US Office of Personnel Management, top tech universities join forces in new consortium

In December 2025, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management launched the U.S. Tech Force, a two-year, cross-government program in which early-career technologists, engineers and data scientists have the opportunity to work for the federal government. As it exists, the program targets young professionals, specifically those that are recent graduates or early in their career.

But what about the next generation of leaders that are still in college?

Launched in June, the Tech Force University Consortium will look to close that gap by bringing together the nation’s top technology universities to create a pipeline of talent to the Tech Force. The consortium will serve as a bridge between academic institutions and the program by allowing students excelling in artificial intelligence and other tech fields to gain real-life experience in government and providing them with the professional network and skills needed to position them for long-term career success.

“I want every young American to feel like, wow, I could spend a year, two years, three years in government, and not only can I do something good for the country, but I'm doing something good for my own career and I'm building a skill set,” said OPM Director Scott Kupor at a roundtable convening at ASU’s Barrett & O’Connor Center in Washington, D.C.

At the roundtable, Kupor, other OPM representatives and NASA’s Chief Human Capital Officer Kelly Elliott sat down with Arizona State University President Michael Crow, as well as leaders from other top tech universities, such as Purdue University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina A&T University and the University of Notre Dame.

“What we’re committed to doing is going on campuses, hosting events where people are and making it easy for people to get access to us,” said Kupor. “(Students) should come to the federal government because you can work on the most complex, most pressing challenges, as students.”

Since the program offers positions across government agencies, it also allows opportunities in more areas than just D.C. And because the Tech Force is partnered with over 40 top technology organizations — Amazon, Apple, Dell, Google and Microsoft, to name a few — students who participate in the force also have the opportunity to seek employment with one of the organizations upon completion the program.

“We put this (roundtable) together with a shared conviction that strengthening the federal government's ability to attract and develop top technical talent is one of the many challenges of our moment, and also that we're far better able to meet it by working together,” said Kevin McGinnis, ASU vice president for strategic technology initiatives. “That's the idea behind the Tech Force University Consortium.”

While the Tech Force is marketed toward students and young professionals in AI and other tech fields, the leaders at the roundtable all agreed that the program is for students of all majors who have an interest or skills in coding or technology. And according to Kupor, while some of the government positions within the Tech Force require specific technical skills, there are other potential positions that solely require students with grit and good problem-solving skills.

“We're looking for people who are human,” said Kupor’s Senior Advisor Greyson McGill. “We don't need people who are rigid; we need outside-of-the-box thinkers and ultimately people that want to serve the country but also want to be a good teammate. It’s as simple as that.”

The universities participating in the consortium will work with OPM, NASA and other federal agencies to shape the program into one that will lead to the most beneficial outcome for the American people.

“Don't ever underestimate what (students) can ultimately do, particularly when you give them unlimited compute time, unlimited access to 3D modeling, 3D printing,” said Crow at the roundtable. “I just think that this is an outstanding idea. I think there are huge ways to make it into something that outlasts (us).”