Ethan Shaotran, a Harvard student and AI researcher, has made headlines after dropping out of college to serve in the US government under President Donald Trump.
Shaotran is now part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, where he works alongside a team of six young engineers, most between the ages of 19 and 24.
The team includes Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Shaotran, according to the Wired.
These engineers have been placed in key positions across federal agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA), where they have access to sensitive government data.
In a video shared online, 22-year-old DOGE member Ethan Shaotran addressed the backlash he faced after leaving Harvard.
“I dropped out of Harvard and came here to serve my country. And it’s been unfortunate to see lost friendships. Most of the campus hates me now,” he told Fox News.
Despite the criticism, Shaotran said he remains committed to the work. “I hope people realize through conversations like this that reform is genuinely needed,” he continued.
“If there’s one group of people who really have a shot at success, it’s the people here. They’re up until 2 am, Monday through Sunday. DOGE did not recognize weekends,” he added.
Who is Ethan Shaotran?
Before joining the government, Shaotran was known for his work in artificial intelligence. He founded Energize AI, a scheduling assistant for professionals, which won a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023.
He also conducted research on autonomous systems at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and was published by IEEE.
He graduated from Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, in 2020.
According to one online profile, Shaotran had been “working on autonomous vehicles” at Harvard’s Edge Computing Lab—likely where he caught the attention of Musk, who has long been focused on self-driving technology at Tesla.
