White House Chief Data Scientist and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for data policy DJ Patil is coming on stage with us at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015. We’re excited to have him come and chat with us about his role as the first national data scientist.
President Obama appointed Patil to his current position this spring. Patil was formerly the head of data science at LinkedIn but came to the White House from RelateIQ, where he was the VP of product.
Patil actually coined the term “data scientist,” calling it “The sexiest job of the 21st century” in a little something he wrote for Harvard Business Review back in 2008.
“If ‘sexy’ means having rare qualities that are much in demand, data scientists are already there.” Patil wrote. “They are difficult and expensive to hire and, given the very competitive market for their services, difficult to retain. There simply aren’t a lot of people with their combination of scientific background and computational and analytical skills.”.
Patil will come onstage to chat with us about life as the first national data scientist and quantifying things of national interest, the Obama administration’s focus on data and technology and how we might be able to use data to improve the political process.
America’s chief data scientist is in good company. CyPhy Works CEO Helen Greiner will also be joining us, as will doyenne of DNA data and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki.
Come enjoy all these excellent speakers and more at Disrupt SF 2015 – happening this September 21 – 23 at San Francisco’s historic Pier 70 – by purchasing tickets right here.