Amita Shetty to lead UIC’s data+AI program

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Amita Shetty, director of UIC’s Break Through Tech Chicago, a national initiative to achieve gender equality in technology fields, will transition from her current role to lead the new program being launched at the university from a $1 million Google.org award.

University of Illinois Chicago announced December 2, that undergraduate students — in any field of study — will have the opportunity to develop their data and artificial intelligence skills thanks to the $1 million award from Google.org.

The award will support UIC’s new Data + AI program, scheduled to launch in a pilot phase during the 2025-26 academic year. Students in the program will start with a specialized course developed by UIC faculty in collaboration with industry leaders, followed by experiential learning, the news report on the university website said. Beyond building students’ technical fluency, the program will focus on ethical reasoning and professional mentorship.

According to Shetty, the new program will equip undergraduate students with the critical skills they need to succeed in an increasingly AI-driven world and enable more students from diverse backgrounds to be part of the next generation of innovators.

“AI is transforming industries, and when guided by diverse talent, it can drive meaningful societal change,” Shetty is quoted saying, adding that UIC is uniquely positioned through its scale, diverse disciplines and strong ties to Chicago’s organizations to prepare students for responsible leadership in this transformative era.

“The data science revolution, including artificial intelligence, calls us to provide state-of-the-art learning opportunities for UIC students,” UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda said. “This award from Google.org will enable our students to develop AI skills and competencies across diverse disciplines and prepare them to compete globally in today’s rapidly evolving, technology-driven workforce. At UIC, we are committed to ensuring that society broadly benefits from the data science revolution — a goal we share with Google.org.”

Shetty came to lead the UIC computer science department’s Break Through Tech program in 2020, from GATX Corporation, a railcar leasing company, where she was the senior vice president of business development. At GATX, Shetty was credited with enabling a growth and diversification strategy by identifying and pursuing investment opportunities with scale. She was the co-founder and leader of GATX’s Women in Leadership, an employee resource group dedicated to achieving gender equity and a culture of inclusion in the workplace.

Prior to GATX Corporation, she worked at General Electric in several business units, including GE Capital, GE Corporate, and GE Transportation. She spent her early career at Painted Word Inc., a startup technology consulting firm.

Shetty also did volunteer work, mentoring women from under-resourced backgrounds in India with the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project. She was a partner at Social Venture Partners Chicago, and has supported women-led socially conscious entrepreneurial ventures via SheEO. She is a long-term advocate of Reading in Motion’s literacy programs for children, the UIC website says.

Shetty has an MBA in management and strategy, marketing, and social enterprise from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and graduated cum laude with a BS in civil and environmental engineering from Lafayette College.