Public Interest Technology University Network
2019-2024
Since 2019, PIT-UN members have created career pathway models for practitioners-in-training while supporting faculty in their efforts to make public interest technology a well-recognized and well-funded academic discipline.
Defining a Field
“Public interest technology” refers to a set of practices to design, deploy and govern technology in ways that advance the public interest. Interdisciplinary by nature, it involves the ability to assess and respond to the core ethical, legal, policy, social, economic and political implications of technology.
Every member, project, community partner, student, professor, supporter, funder, and many more contributors built the field of PIT, which Katy Knight, president and executive director and President, Siegel Family Endowment, recently described as “an overarching movement and ethos, [public interest technology] an aspiration that technology can be a force for good, as long as we govern it effectively and prioritize pro-social values.”

It is our job, as experts and public interest technologists, to be transparent about what is known — and not known — about generative AI and to seek to understand these systems the same way we researched and exposed the prior iteration of AI systems used for decision making. Our collective confusion about the risks and rewards of generative AI stems in large part from experts and trusted spokespeople doing the opposite, by making overconfident and partially or entirely unfounded claims (not unlike ChatGPT itself) about AI sentience.
The current power dynamic between the tech industry and policymakers is altogether symbiotic, asymmetric, and reactive… What’s important about the government’s AI blueprint is that it provides a way forward, a route toward agency, for those seeking to create policy for AI systems and services as they become ubiquitous. This is where PIT-UN comes in. PIT-UN members have long recognized where higher education might intervene, creating innovative programing, courses, and collaborations to engage students and partners from government, civil society, industry, and local communities in shaping technology development and use.
As a public interest lawyer by training, I run Temple University’s Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology (iLIT), which aims to ensure that the field of digital technology bridges existing divides, remedies the systemic under-representation of minorities and other marginalized peoples, and innovates in ways that clearly advance the broad, global, public interest …There is no doubt that public interest technology (PIT) and the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) are pivotal platforms for realizing our mission.
Data carries memory, a troublesome inheritance for particular communities. Those painful past decisions are trapped in the memory of the data, opening some deep social wounds as we attempt to use data to resolve very pressing social challenges and social questions. If we use historical data sets to build tools like large language models, which have been developed with toxic data scraped off the internet, what we risk doing is retraumatizing, revictimizing, groups that have tried so hard to find ways to heal. I’m always trying to get students to ask how we can use data to help communities heal, thrive, and build resilient and sustainable legacies.
The pace of technological production and progress is fast because it is not democratic. It is governed by the interests of a very elite few who are motivated by and are in service of a very narrow set of values that do not extend far beyond profit and power for that elite few … PIT-UN, as the cornerstone organization that converges tech with a vision of public interest, must grapple with questions of how we maintain democracy in our tech age and how we fight against the prioritization of profit and power as values that trump the other values — such as justice, shared care for our collective wellbeing, and truth — that are necessary for democracy to function.
2019-2024 at a Glance







The Network Challenge has invested $16 million since 2019 in collaborative projects to create experiential learning opportunities, support faculty development, build career pathways, andincrease access to technology design, use and governance among groups traditionally excluded from tech.

Focus on Field Building
Since 2019, PIT-UN members have focused on one, some, or all six of the field-building
areas, in addition to other initiatives designed to build the field.
1
Develop experiential learning opportunities
To date, PIT-UN members have developed more than 120 experiential learning programs; funded 33 fellowships, 28 internships and 22 clinics and labs; and run 10 summer programs.
2
Support curriculum and faculty development
Since inception, PIT-UN has invested millions to support curriculum and faculty development, including 22 degree or certificate programs, 19 PIT-focused tool kits, 12 learning models, regional hubs, and ongoing working groups. Additionally, PIT-UN has developed a resource website and will launch an OER in 2025.
3
Share institutional data for evaluation and program design
PIT-UN established a dedicated website, member newsletter and has held numerous in-person and online events, including the five PIT-UN convenings/summits. In addition, PIT-UN sponsored seats in a Wiki Scholars course to bolster the availability and accuracy of information about public interest technology on Wikipedia; launched the special issue on public interest technology published by the Journal on Integrated Global STEM.
4
Prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion in PIT.
PIT-UN, which includes 20 MSIs, is focused on ensuring all institutions can see their role in PIT, and as Andreen Soley explained to the Siegel Family Endowment, “We were very intentional about encouraging institutional diversity — making sure to include minority-serving institutions, community colleges, and institutions from a range of regions.”
The Why. The Who. The Work.
Our commitment to paving the way for the next generation of civic technologists is at the heart of the work and undergirds why we have been able to grow the community and field across the Network and beyond. Read about the positive impact PIT-UN is having in key tech areas, such as data science, artificial intelligence, climate resilience, and cyber security.
At Scale
Powering the Pipeline
- Special Issue on Public Interest Technology
- Civic Tech Hackathon Demonstrates the Power of Public Interest Technology for Second Year
Read More
- New Report on Latines in Tech Underscores Need for PIT Pathways
- PIT Career Fairs Fall 2023 Snapshot
- OSU Prototyping a Regional PIT Faculty Fellows Program
- Building the Field of Responsible AI
- CSU Awarded Philanthropic Grant to Fuel Public Interest Tech Movement
- Justice Media Computational Journalism Career Fellowship
- Texas iSchool Joins Social Justice Informatics Collaborative Effort in City of Austin
- Carnegie Mellon University: The Policy Innovation Lab Fellowship
- 2021 Public Interest Technology Data Science Corps (PIT-DSC) Team
- Olin College PInt Summer Fellowship
- Building Career Pathways for Diverse Public Interest Technology Entrepreneurs
- 2021 PIT-UN supported fellowship programs
- CITP’s Summer Fellowship Program for Training Public Interest Technologists
- Introducing the 2020 Public Interest Technology Community Innovation Fellows
The-First-of-Its-Kind
- Arizona State University created a first-of-its-kind online Master of Science in Public Interest Technology
- Harvard University Public Interest Tech Lab
Read More
- New York University Public Interest Technology Institute
- Public Interest Technology Initiative at Cornell Tech
- PIT @ UMass – Public Interest Technology Initiative
- Carnegie Mellon University Public Interest Technologist Certificate (PITC)
- UMass Amherst Undergraduate Certificate in Public Interest Technology
- Miami Dade College College Credit Certificate in Geographic Information Systems
- Case Western Reserve University Certificate in Data Sciences for Social Impact
- UW researchers work to decrease the digital divide in the Puget Sound region
Community Catalyzers
- ECU receives Public Interest Technology University Network award
- How can cities use AI? These professors are creating guidelines for how artificial intelligence could be used for public interest
Read More
- Nittany AI Alliance helping Pittsburgh nonprofits use AI for good
- Centering Human Relationships in the Age of AI
- Numbers Never Speak for Themselves
- Community Cybersecurity Clinics
- Building Community & Careers in Public Interest Tech
- UCSC Students Use Technology for the Good of SLV Nonprofit
- Co-Powering an Emergent Horizon
- Partnering with Civil Society:’ PIT-UN Panel Explores Ways to Assist the Public Interest Community
- How to Apply Interdisciplinary Research and Historical Perspectives to Current PIT Issues
- Creating a Strong Public Interest Technology Project
- Best Practices: Community Partnerships in PIT Work
Democracy Defenders
Read More
- Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence
- SJSU’s Spatial Analytics And Visualization Institute Data & Democracy Workshops
- Remarks of Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Deirdre K. Mulligan at the Public Interest Technology University Network Convening
- Safe and secure elections require interdisciplinary collaboration
Join us for the next phase of work in ensuring that civic-minded technologists have a seat at the PIT table in design, development, policy, and leadership roles in government, industry, and civil society.
PIT-UN Regional Hubs provide a framework for synergistic programming in higher education and workforce development in PIT. Hubs focus on inter-institutional efforts to accelerate the development and institutionalization of PIT; provide expertise, experience and training to the regional workforce; and develop ecosystems in which each institution can expand the impact of its own efforts.
Launching in 2025, the PIT OER will feature artifacts, such as course materials, tool kits, models and data, from PIT-UN member institutions and grant projects.
Start a PIT-UN Tech for Change student club or hold a hackathon. Plus, stay tuned as we continue to invest in scholarship and fellowship programs to bolster the talent pipeline.