The Ohio State University

Through Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) funding, The Ohio State University, in collaboration with Cleveland State University, and Case Western Reserve University, are committed to developing and launching a successfully-proven program to train and place Ohio Public Interest Fellows in state government. Our primary objective is to grow the capacity of Ohio’s public sector and the future workforce to integrate scientific-technical insight into policy-making and to foster a culture of dialogue and collaboration between state government and academia. These Fellow graduate students drawn from scientific-technical academic backgrounds, will support their host organizations’ work, develop as public-interest scientists, engineers, and analysts, and assist in critical stakeholder-discovery for the Fellow program’s planning. We look forward to seeing our Ohio-grown Public Interest Fellows build bridges in the public sector while contributing their technical education to solving important policy challenges in 2022 and beyond.

Michael Pires, Project Manager, John Glenn College of Public Affairs

Educational Offerings

Workforce development of minority student talent in data science, analytics, and design thinking, with consideration for IDEA – Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Access.

This project will provide an experiential learning opportunity for minority students through a new partnership between the Ohio State University (OSU) and Central State University (CSU). This partnership will co-develop a 12 month paid internship program for four CSU undergraduate students who will work together as a team to address a public interest challenge. The student team will be mentored by an OSU graduate student with experience in data science and analytics methods. This experiential learning program will increase exposure to data science and analytics methods and techniques to students attending a minority serving institution. Ultimately, the goal of this program is not only to increase technological capabilities of these students, but to also instill a deep appreciation of systematic problem solving to advance public interests to generate public benefits particularly for populations often overlooked by existing systems and policies.

Principal Investigator

Emily Nutwell, Program Director, Translational Data Analytics Institute

Career Pipeline/Placement

Ohio Public Interest Fellows

The project trains and places Ohio Public Interest Fellows in state government to grow the capacity of Ohio’s public sector and the future workforce to integrate scientific-technical insight into policymaking, and to foster a culture of dialogue and collaboration between state government and academia.

Principal Investigator

Elizabeth Newton, Executive Director of the Battelle Center for Science, Engineering, and Public Policy in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs