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Research that informs and advances policy
Abstract:
Impact is one of the key factors for judging the value of research. Impact can take many forms, but research that informs public policy or advances policy objectives can have particularly significant and direct real-world influence. Despite that, computer science research findings and methods that offer value from a policy perspective may not be obvious to researchers. Through the lens of research projects on topics from review moderation to web security, we will explore types and aspects of research that can be valuable to policy. Based on that, we will discuss broader lessons for how the computer science community can produce research that informs and advances technology-related public policy.
About the Speaker:
Joe Calandrino is the deputy chief science and technology advisor and deputy chief AI officer at the U.S. Department of Justice (but will be speaking in his personal capacity). He previously served as research director in the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he won the Bureau Director's award for his service. He is interested in the application of computer security, privacy, and related computer science research methods to address public policy issues. He served as program committee co-chair for USENIX Security 2023 and SOUPS 2020-2021, co-founded the Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro), and won the best reviewer award from the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy 2020. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University, where he was affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Policy, and holds a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Virginia.