By Amarachi Okafor
Rusty Pickens arrived at Heinz College older than most of his classmates and already having worked with some of the guest speakers his professors brought in.
He’d spent eight years at the White House, including a stint as acting director of new media technology, before enrolling in the DC track of Heinz College’s Master of Science in Public Policy and Management program.
"It is hard to go back to being a student after ten years of being out of school and on the front lines of government service," Pickens said,"but I'm so glad I did it."
Pickens grew up in southeastern Oklahoma and is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation. After graduating from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, with a computer science degree in 2007, he wasn't entirely sure what came next. A rare opportunity arrived: the Chickasaw Nation's ambassador on Capitol Hill needed an intern, someone who could help represent tribal interests in Washington. Pickens said yes and headed to Washington.
When Pickens arrived in Washington, DC, in 2007, the economy was tipping toward collapse and the country was engaged in both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. "DC is a train that's just going to keep moving," he said. "You can choose when you jump on and when you jump off, but it’s going to continue with or without you." 
A campaign job with Obama for America in Pennsylvania in 2008 led to a role at the Presidential Inaugural Committee, then the U.S. Small Business Administration, then the White House, and eventually to the U.S. State Department, where Pickens served as senior advisor for digital platforms, overseeing the cloud computing systems that powered American public diplomacy around the world.
"Looking back on those eight years now, there was no way to plan for that career trajectory," Pickens said. "I had to look at the next opportunity that was available to me and decide if I needed to say yes. Often it’s a question of going to where the work is needed.”
By 2016, Pickens had been working in government technology for eight years. He'd helped build the digital infrastructure of a presidential campaign, then dealt with the frustration of moving from that nimble technology platform to the aging IT systems waiting for him inside the federal government. Pickens got to work; however, one ambition remained on hold throughout those years in public service: graduate school.
"For eight years, I'm thinking, I would have loved to go to grad school. I really wanted to further my studies in cybersecurity and technology policy, but I chose to prioritize public service while I had those unique opportunities." When the administration ended, Pickens applied to Heinz College.
He wasn't the first person from his Chickasaw community to make that call. Steve Denson (MSPPM ‘93) a mentor and Heinz College alumnus, had been pushing young Chickasaws toward Carnegie Mellon for years. Denson recruited Pickens's close friend Heath Clayton (MSPPM ‘11), who then recruited Pickens. Pickens has since helped steer others in the same direction.
"The friendly joke is that whoever was the last one to graduate has to recruit the next one,” Pickens said. “In honor of Te Ata, the first Chickasaw to attend CMU, we always want a Chickasaw at Heinz," Pickens said.
Rusty Pickens remains involved as an alumni; his work reflects the blend of technology, policy, and public service that has defined his career.
Pickens said Heinz College allowed him to think more deeply about public policy and to explore policy topics beyond technology.
"There were areas where I was really naturally aligned, like cloud computing and security policy. But I didn't have firsthand knowledge in topics beyond my career area, like the nuances of the appropriations process. I didn't know much about climate policy, or program evaluation,” Pickens said. “Heinz gave me focused time to deepen those skills.”
The public policy curriculum required Pickens to cover ground he'd never had time for during his years in government. The experience was shaped not only by new subject matter, but also by the faculty who challenged him to think differently. Two professors remain vivid in his memory.
Professor Silvia Borzutsky's class on international perspectives in policy pushed him hard, partly because of his State Department background.
"She knows so much about the details of decades of foreign policy,” Pickens said.
One of his favorite Heinz experiences was participating in the International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise, a full-weekend off-site experience simulating a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and India. "It’s so fascinating to get to roleplay from a perspective other than the United States,” Pickens said. “I'm so glad I did that."
Professor George Krumbhaar's final course on federal budget policy also stands out.
"The federal budget is one of the driest topics you'll ever come across, but it’s critically important to how Washington functions,” Pickens said. “Professor Krumbhaar made it fun by telling such cool stories from first-hand experience, through a different lens, and with examples of esoteric little edge cases with appropriations and funding."
Pickens also mentioned Professors Randy Trzeciak and Lowell Taylor, and said he incorporates their approaches to teaching into his own classroom.
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After earning his master’s degree, Pickens founded 580 Strategies, a Washington-area consulting firm focused on helping federal agencies modernize their IT systems through cloud computing and agile development. He co-founded Out In National Security, a nonprofit that spent six years building community and doing advocacy for LGBTQIA2S+ professionals across the national security field. In 2022, Pickens returned to East Central University as a computer science instructor.
For Pickens, roles are deeply connected.
"When I view everything I am working on, it all gels together in one balanced mix of education, advocacy, and public service," Pickens said. The Heinz degree opened specific doors.
"I wouldn't be teaching at East Central as an instructor and giving back to that community without my grad degree," he said.
Pickens also appreciates the CMU alumni network.
"Knowing you are surrounded by a network of experts in their fields who will help if you need to is really important,” Pickens said. “It's not a thing that stops on graduation day. And it also gives you a responsibility to engage and participate."
Pickens is thinking a lot right now about the intersection of artificial intelligence and tribal sovereignty. Those issues came into focus through speaking at the United Nations in Manhattan and Geneva in 2025 and at a tribal innovation summit convened by the Cherokee Nation in February 2026. The questions on the table were ones not many people are equipped to work through: How should sovereign tribal nations approach data governance as AI systems grow more powerful? What does ethical technology adoption look like when it's grounded in Indigenous values? What happens when technology companies target tribal lands for data centers, partly because the regulatory environment is more permissive?
"Tribal communities in Oklahoma can be leaders in this space," Pickens said. "But we’re also in danger of being exploited - again - with the rise of data centers to power AI. There’s more work to do that sets up tribes for success while balancing our values with emerging technology.”
Pickens has pulled together a working group called the Open Sovereignty Lab, drawing in tribal practitioners, public interest tech colleagues, legal studies students, and interns to start working through these questions and compiling resources for tribes. He pitched the concept at the Cherokee Nation summit in February.
"I don't think I would be equipped to do this work without the public policy experience and a degree from Heinz,” Pickens said. “This is industry-leading, subject-matter expertise that there's not a lot of resources for just yet. We’re working to change that."
For anyone who hesitates to apply to Heinz College because they don't see themselves as a typical tech or policy student, Pickens has something to say:
"Please don't let your location or your background or the money–those things that are traditional barriers to entry for people getting into grad school–don't let that stop you,” Pickens said. “There are a lot of people who want to help, and we will find ways to help get you in that class and in that seat in DC, because we need your voice at that table."
Visibility matters, Pickens said. For students from rural, LGBTQIA2S+, or Indigenous communities, seeing someone who looks like them go to graduate school and come out the other side can change what feels possible.
"For people from our communities, being successful in grad school needs to be a thing that feels achievable,” Pickens said. “And how is that going to feel achievable if you've never seen anybody from your community do it?"