What have you been up to since graduating from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾?
Currently, I work for PayPal in cybersecurity policy and strategy, with a majority of my focus recently on AI governance. I am also pursuing a law degree at Fordham Law in the evenings. Previously, I worked at Venable as a technology consultant, focusing on issues including privacy, content moderation, and AI regulation. While at Venable, I completed a part-time master’s in cybersecurity policy at Brown University, where I worked closely with Professor Suresh Venkatasubramanian on developing methods to track AI legislation at the state and federal levels. Beyond work, I have been involved in the tech policy community as a member of the Internet Law and Policy Foundry and as a writer for Lawfare.
Why digital and computational studies? What drew you to the major/minor and how has it shaped your path?
As someone with much of my family living abroad, technology has always been important for staying connected with them and my culture. I took a DCS class during my freshman fall somewhat by chance—I entered ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ as a government and economics major and enrolled in Forecasting & Predictions, which was cross-listed with government and DCS. The course caught my interest for two reasons: first, it combined my interest in political science with quantitative methods, and second, it covered forecasting in general (weather, sports, elections, etc.). This felt especially relevant as the 2016 US presidential election was happening at the same time. The election challenged many assumptions about polling and changed how we think about personal data, especially following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This experience sparked my initial interest in privacy as a civil liberty requiring significant reforms and protections to address technological challenges.