UIC alumnus named US Digital Corps Fellow

The U.S. General Services Administration has chosen a University of Illinois Chicago alumnus to be part of its 2023 cohort of U.S. Digital Corps fellows.

Ethan Jantz, who earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, was one of 48 recipients selected from a pool of 1,355 applicants nationwide to be part of its second annual fellowship cohort.

Launched in 2021 in collaboration with the White House and partners across the government, the U.S. Digital Corps offers early career technologists a pathway into federal service with the potential to transform the two-year posts into permanent positions.

Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Jantz earned his bachelor’s in urban studies and his master’s in civic analytics at UIC. He researched data governance in the public sector, housing policy and geospatial analysis methods. He was a data science intern at the Cook County Assessor’s Office and served as an associate research analyst at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning after graduation. He also worked at the Chicago Public Libraries.

At UIC, he worked on campus for the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center and the Urban Data Visualization Lab, researching housing, transportation, neighborhood change and poverty.

“Ever since working at the Chicago Public Libraries, I have wanted to work in government to help it better serve communities,” Jantz said. “During my education and training at UIC CUPPA, I gained invaluable experience in the public sector through internships, research projects and instruction from UIC faculty.”

Jantz is assigned to the Office of Head Start at the Department of Health and Human Services within the Administration for Children and Families. He will be working with the organization’s data team to help make administrative data more usable and available using data science skills he began developing at UIC.

“It’s exciting and humbling to take the skills and education I gained at UIC and apply it in a space where I can help improve services, transparency and accountability in the public sector,” Jantz said. “It is an honor to serve as a civic technologist in the federal government.”

During the two-year program, recipients support agencies with their skills, including software engineering, product management, design, data science and analytics, and cybersecurity.

The new cohort supports critical needs for more significant data science and artificial intelligence expertise in government. It advances President Biden’s “whole-of-government” commitment to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the federal workforce, according to a press release announcing the 2023 cohort.

“I’m thrilled to see the U.S. Digital Corps bring more talented early career technologists into federal service with its 2023 cohort,” said Dominique Duval-Diop, U.S. Chief Data Scientist at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “In an environment where developments in data science and artificial intelligence are happening daily, it’s crucial that we have a wide array of technical perspectives at policy tables to ensure these developments benefit all Americans and protect against potential harms.”