Jane E. Fountain is an American political scientist and technology theorist.

[1] She then earned a master's degree in education (administration, planning and social policy) from Harvard University in 1982, and several degrees from Yale University, culminating in a Ph.D. in political science and organizational behavior in 1990.

In 2005 Fountain moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst and NCDG was re-established there.

[2] Fountain also directs the Science, Technology and Society Initiative at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

[1] In 2001, Fountain published Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change, which has been published in multiple languages, and is regarded as a key text in digital government scholarship.