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Ben Jacobsen

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Hi there! I'm a fourth year PhD student in Computer Science at UW-Madison, where I have the honor of being advised by Kassem Fawaz as a part of the Wisconsin Privacy and Security Group. Prior to coming to Madison, I spent two years at Central New Mexico Community College and then transferred to the University of Arizona, where I majored in Mathematics.

My research is focused on privacy issues related to machine learning and surveillance. Specifically, I'm interested in developing algorithmic methods to expand the domains where powerful theoretical tools like differential privacy can be usefully applied. My current work has involved designing and analyzing differentially-private online learning algorithms that have additional restrictions on accessing their data beyond the traditional definition of DP, for instance by satysfying stronger privacy definitions or by assuming less prior knowledge about the size and shape of the input.

Most of my actual research is fairly math-heavy, but I'm quite passionate about privacy from a social and philosophical perspective as well. So, for instance, I'm a regular member of the Ethics, Values, Information, and Law (EVIL) Reading Group, I have a PhD minor in Science and Technology Studies, and I've led several discussions on topics like Contextual Integrity and legal risks in security research for other graduates in the security and privacy group at Madison. I have longstanding ambitions to bring more of that interdisciplinary background into my research proper, so if you're reading this and you also think that doing a deep dive on the historical development and philosophical implications of differential privacy sounds like a lot of fun, you should definitely shoot me an email!

Outside of research, I play jazz piano, go rock climbing, and run a regular Dungeons & Dragons game for my friends. I'm also very passionate about teaching; I'm currently part of the very first cohort of Madison College Teaching Fellows, and expect to be instructor-of-record for a CS class at a local community college this fall.