Privacy Everywhere 2024 - Privacy Engineering as a Profession

Privacy Engineering is an emerging field that is gaining traction as compliance mandates become more complex and require technical expertise. The definition of what constitutes privacy engineering remains fluid and depends on how privacy is perceived in each organization. This panel will discuss the need to define privacy engineering as a profession, common misconceptions about skill requirements and hiring, and the way forward to better understand this dynamic discipline.

***Information presented in these sessions reflects the views of the presenter/s and are not necessarily those of the University of Illinois, or its colleges, units or employees. The University of Illinois does not endorse and is not affiliated with the individual speakers or their companies or institutions. Each presenter's views are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or stance of the conference organizers, sponsors, or affiliated institutions.***

Shea Swauger, Future of Privacy Forum (Moderator): Shea (he/him) is a Senior Researcher at FPF focusing on data sharing and data ethics. Hailing from academic librarianship, he holds a Master’s of Library and Information Science and is about halfway into a PhD in Education and Critical Studies. His main areas of work and research involve privacy, ethics, and technology.

Daniel Smullen, Amazon: As a proud alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University Cylab, Dr. Daniel Smullen had the distinction of working with the founders of the inaugural and only Privacy Engineering academic program during his doctoral and postdoctoral studies. His unique academic training and extensive R&D career have culminated in numerous patents and a substantial publication record in top-tier journals spanning privacy engineering, privacy enhancing technologies, machine learning, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and human-computer interaction. Daniel has had the privilege of partnering with policymakers, regulators, government and military sponsors, and industry leaders, solidifying his expertise and impact within these critical domains. Daniel is currently an applied scientist at Amazon Lab126, working on complex problems within Alexa Sensitive Content Intelligence.

Liam Christopher Webster, University of California, Berkeley: Liam Webster is currently a Researcher at the International Computer Science Institute, where he has worked on projects exploring the data practices of mobile applications. His industry-focused work at App Census, combined with his academic endeavors, has fostered a keen interest in Privacy Engineering. Liam recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. At Berkeley, he was involved in the Usable and Experimental Security Laboratory and also took part in student teaching. Liam's emerging career is driven by a commitment to advancing the field of privacy engineering.

Nandita Rao Narla, DoorDash: Nandita Rao Narla is the Head of Technical Privacy and Governance at DoorDash. Previously, she was a founding team member of a data profiling startup and held various leadership roles at EY, where she helped Fortune 500 companies build and mature privacy, cybersecurity, and data governance programs. Beyond checkbox compliance programs, Nandita is interested in developing products that respect user privacy and build trust. She is a Senior Fellow at Future of Privacy Forum and serves on the Advisory Boards and technical standards committees for IAPP, Ethical Tech Project, X Reality Safety Initiative, Institute of Operational Privacy Design, and NIST.

Nikita Samarin, University of California, Berkeley: Pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at UC Berkeley, Nikita Samarin researches the role of software engineering in privacy compliance. His record includes publications and papers on topics spanning privacy engineering, authentication, and secure machine learning. A research assistant at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) and Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), he is also a former Data Science Fellow at UC Berkeley and an RSAC Security Scholar. His previous experiences include research roles at EPFL and UCI, and teaching at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his BSc with Honors in Computer Science.