Jane Fountain

Who is Jane Fountain?

Jane Fountain is an American political scientist and technology theorist. She is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, the founder and director of the National Center for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and formerly faculty at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is known for her work on institutional change and on the use of technology in governance.

Fountain earned a Bachelor's degree in Music from the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1977, serving as concertmaster from 1975-77. She then earned a Master's in Education from Harvard University in 1982, and several degrees from Yale University, culminating in a Ph.D. in Political Science and Organizational Behavior in 1990. She began teaching at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1989. In 1998 she established the Women in the Information Age Project and in 2001, with support from the National Science Foundation, established the National Center for Digital Government with David Lazer. In 2005 Fountain moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst and NCDG was re-established there.