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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鈥檇 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鈥檚 Master of Science in Public Policy and Management program.

鈥淚t 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,鈥� Rusty says, 鈥渂ut I'm so glad I did it.鈥�

A long way from Oklahoma

Rusty 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. Rusty said yes and headed to Washington.

When Rusty arrived, the economy was tipping toward collapse and the country was engaged in both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. 鈥淒C is a train that's just going to keep moving,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can choose when you jump on and when you jump off, but it鈥檚 going to continue with or without you.鈥�

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 Obama White House, and eventually to the U.S. State Department, where Rusty served as senior advisor for digital platforms, overseeing the cloud computing systems that powered American public diplomacy around the world.

鈥淟ooking back on those eight years now, there was no way to plan for that career trajectory,鈥� Rusty says. "I had to look at the next opportunity that was available to me and decide if I needed to say yes. Often it鈥檚 a question of going to where the work is needed.鈥�

The decision to attend Heinz College

By 2016, Rusty 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. Rusty got to work; however, one ambition remained on hold throughout those years in public service: graduate school.聽

鈥淔or 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.鈥� When the administration ended, Rusty applied to Heinz College.

He wasn't the first person from his Chickasaw community to make that call. Steve Denson, a mentor and a 1993 Heinz College alumnus, had been pushing young Chickasaws toward Carnegie Mellon for years. Denson recruited Rusty's close friend Heath Clayton, a 2011 graduate who then recruited Rusty. Rusty has since helped steer others in the same direction.

鈥淭he friendly joke is that whoever was the last one to graduate has to recruit the next one,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淚n honor of Te Ata, the first Chickasaw to attend CMU, we always want a Chickasaw at Heinz,鈥� Rusty says.

Rusty says Heinz College allowed him to think more deeply about public policy and to explore policy topics beyond technology.

鈥淭here 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,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淗einz gave me focused time to deepen those skills.鈥�

The public policy curriculum required Rusty 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.

鈥淪he knows so much about the details of decades of foreign policy,鈥� Rusty says.
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. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so fascinating to get to roleplay from a perspective other than the United States,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淚'm so glad I did that.鈥�

Professor George Krumbhaar's final course on federal budget policy also stands out.

鈥淭he federal budget is one of the driest topics you'll ever come across, but it鈥檚 critically important to how Washington functions,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淧rofessor 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.鈥�

Rusty also mentioned Professors Randy Trzeciak and Lowell Taylor, and says he incorporates their approaches to teaching into his own classroom.

Putting knowledge into practice

After earning his master鈥檚 degree, Rusty 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. And in 2022, Rusty returned to East Central University as a computer science instructor.

For Rusty, the roles are deeply connected.

鈥淲hen I view everything I am working on, it all gels together in one balanced mix of education, advocacy, and public service,鈥� Rusty says. The Heinz degree opened specific doors.

鈥淚 wouldn't be teaching at East Central as an instructor and giving back to that community without my grad degree,鈥� he says.

Rusty also appreciates the CMU alumni network.

鈥淜nowing you are surrounded by a network of experts in their fields who will help if you need to is really important,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淚t's not a thing that stops on graduation day. And it also gives you a responsibility to engage and participate.鈥�

A new challenge takes shape

Rusty 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?

鈥淭ribal communities in Oklahoma can be leaders in this space,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e also in danger of being exploited 鈥� again 鈥� with the rise of data centers to power AI. There鈥檚 more work to do that sets up tribes for success while balancing our values with emerging technology.鈥�

Rusty 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.

鈥淚 don't think I would be equipped to do this work without the public policy experience and a degree from Heinz,鈥� Rusty says. 鈥淭his is industry-leading, subject-matter expertise that there's not a lot of resources for just yet. We鈥檙e working to change that.鈥�