Luke Farritor (born ) is an American

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

who is working since 2025 at the

Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...

(DOGE).

Early life and education

Luke is the son of Shane Farritor, a

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

professor from

Ravenna, Nebraska Ravenna is a city in Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Kearney, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,441 at the 2020 census. History Ravenna was founded in 1886 when the Burlington Railroad w ...

. Luke interned at

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

in 2023. That year, he won a $40,000 prize from the Vesuvius Challenge for using artificial intelligence to uncover ten letters from one of the

Herculaneum Papyri The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1,800 papyrus scrolls discovered in the 18th century in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. They had been Carbonization, carbonized when the villa was engulfed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. ...

scrolls. Farritor's AI program segmented images of the carbonized scroll into 100 pixels by 100 pixels to determine the characters written in ink. In February 2024, Farritor and two other competitors he had teamed up with won the $700,000 grand prize for revealing more than 2,000 additional characters. Farritor studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

at the

, before dropping out to become a Thiel Fellow in 2024.

Career

In 2025, Farritor joined Elon Musk's

. He is among a group of 19–24 year olds at the agency. Farritor currently holds a

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

(GSA) email and A-suite level clearance, with access to all GSA physical spaces and IT systems, according to ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

''. He is also an executive engineer in the office of the

secretary of Health and Human Services The United States secretary of health and human services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all health matters. The secretary is ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

reported on February 6, 2025, that Energy Secretary

Chris Wright Christopher Allen Wright (born January 15, 1965) is an American government official, engineer, and businessman serving as the 17th United States Secretary of Energy, United States secretary of energy since 2025. Before his appointment, he was th ...

had that day granted Farritor access to the department's computer systems. In this position, Farritor manually vetoed payments to the

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

relief program

PEPFAR The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the global health funding by the United States to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. As of 2023, PEPFAR has ...

, even after some payments had been approved by White House officials and Secretary of State

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

. Farritor became a full time government employee effective May 31, 2025 at a

General Schedule (US civil service pay scale) The General Schedule (GS) is the predominant pay scale within the United States civil service. The GS includes the majority of white collar personnel (professional, technical, administrative, and clerical) positions. , 71 percent of federal civi ...

grade of GS-15 (the top grade).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farritor, Luke 2000s births Department of Government Efficiency people Living people University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni 21st-century American engineers American software engineers Thiel fellows

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links