UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Priya Kumar, assistant professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), has joined the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)’s 2024 cohort of non-resident fellows.
The Non-Resident Fellows Program aims to inform policy solutions by engaging academics in key discussions involving technology policy, according to a CDT press release. Scholars from diverse organizations and backgrounds collaborate on projects and events alongside CDT policy experts, and their research is shared and amplified by the organization. Kumar will serve a two-year term.
‘I am thrilled to join CDT’s Non-Resident Fellows Program,” Kumar said. “As part of my research on how digital technologies affect children’s privacy, I argue that meaningful privacy protection for children and adults alike requires changing the business model that drives tech platforms to extract user data for profit. CDT is a leader in pushing for privacy rights, and I look forward to working with their research and policy teams, as well as the other fellows, to translate academic research into meaningful impact in this space.”
Kumar joined Penn State in August 2021. Her research has appeared in information, communication and human-computer interaction publications and been featured in national media outlets that include The New York Times, NPR, Wired and Buzzfeed.
Kumar earned bachelor’s degrees in government and politics and in journalism from the University of Maryland. She holds a master’s degree in information from the University of Michigan School of Information and a doctoral degree in information studies from the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies.
“This fellowship is a testament to the important work Priya is doing in the field of social and organizational informatics,” said Andrea Tapia, interim dean of the College of IST. “Her efforts to advance the digital technology discourse surrounding privacy are helping to make the world a safer place in the ever-evolving Information Age.”