University of Richmond Computer Science Professor Sara Krehbiel Awarded Mozilla Grant For Research on Protecting Private Data

September 18, 2018

Krehbiel teaching classSara Krehbiel, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Richmond, has received a Mozilla Research Grant of more than $18,000 for her project focused on developing new tools for protecting private data.

Krehbiel’s project will focus on differential privacy, a system of limiting the privacy loss that an individual experiences when their private information is used to create an aggregate data product.

“Existing results in differential privacy typically assume that a database is fixed before analysis begins, yet in many real-world settings a database’s composition grows and changes over time,” Krehbiel explains. “For example, a company that accumulates data from a growing base of customers may wish to analyze how its customer base evolves over time. Despite the practical need to conduct private analyses on growing databases, relatively little is known about differential privacy in this setting. This project develops new tools to address that.”

Krehbiel has taught at Richmond since 2015. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

This award is part of a larger grant awarded to Georgia Institute of Technology and will include a collaboration with Rachel Cummings, assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech.

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