Hi! I’m Sarah Radway, a second year PhD student in Computer Science. I am a 2022 NSF Graduate Research Fellow, interested in privacy red-teaming: using tools and methods from the security and privacy space to evaluate the strength of related law and policy.

In recent good news, my paper has been accepted to CHI 2024! This work evaluates privacy threats associated with FERPA’s directory information exception in the university setting. We reveal the wealth of student data this exception makes available, how bad actors access this student data, and how current opt out processes often leave students with minimal control over the sharing of their data.

I also recently co-first authored this paper, which I presented at Oakland (IEEE S&P 2022), FCSM 2021, and most recently, at the National Academies CNSTAT Census Data Products Workshop. This work contextualizes the U.S. Census Bureau’s transition to differential privacy through an in-depth comparison with swapping (the de-identification method used by the Census Bureau in 2010). Our presentations focus on data privacy and utility, exploring issues surrounding minority underrepresentation, group size, and the single-year-of-age use case.

These days, I’m working (1) on questions about virtual reality data privacy and (2) in the anonymous communications space.

Publications

Radway, Sarah, Katherine Quintanilla, Cordelia Ludden, and Daniel Votipka. “An Investigation of US Universities’ Implementation of FERPA Student Directory Policies and Student Privacy Preferences.” Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2024.

Christ, Miranda*, Sarah Radway*, and Steven M. Bellovin. “ Differential Privacy and Swapping: Examining De-Identification’s Impact on Minority Representation and Privacy Preservation in the US Census .”  2022 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP) . IEEE Computer Society, 2022. 
*Co-first authors

Blessing, Jenny*, Drean, J.*, & Radway, S.* Survey and analysis of U.S. policies to address ransomware  MIT Science Policy Review 3 , 38-46 (2022). https://doi.org/10.38105/spr.iyuyqypkzm. 
*Co-first authors

Radway, Sarah. “ Predictive Privacy: Modeling Privacy Harms .” Diss. Columbia University, 2021.

Talks

“Amigo: Anonymous Mesh Messaging In Groups”. April 2024. CCNY Inaugural Cybersecurity Series. New York, NY.

“The Politics of Privacy In The U.S. Census.” Science In The News. November 2023. Cambridge, MA.

“Counting Kindergarteners: De-Identification’s Impact on Student Representation .” The National Academies CNSTAT 2020 Census Data Products Workshop. June 2022. Washington, DC.

“Global Internet Infrastructure”. Tech @ Fletcher. May 2022.

“Comparative Analysis of Differential Privacy and Swapping Methods In The Context of The U.S. Census “. Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology 2021. November 2021. Virtual.

“Augmented and Virtual Reality Development For Astronaut Training and Assistance”. Columbia Undergraduate Research Colloquy. November 2020. Virtual.

Posters

Radway, Sarah and Miranda Christ. “ The Impact of De-Identification on Single-Year-of-Age Counts in the US Census .” Theory and Practice of Differential Privacy 2023. September 2023. Boston, MA.

Radway, Sarah and Dan Votipka. “ Identifying New Challenges In The Oculus Permissions Framework .” Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security 2023. August 2023. Anaheim, CA.

Quintanilla, Katherine, Sarah Radway, and Dan Votipka. “ Fixing FERPA: A Survey of Current Student Directory Sharing Practices at U.S. Universities .” Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security 2023. August 2023. Anaheim, CA.

Christ, Miranda, Sarah Radway, and Steven M. Bellovin. “ Differential Privacy and Swapping: Examining De-Identification’s Impact on Minority Representation and Privacy Preservation in the US Census .” Theory and Practice of Differential Privacy 2022. July 2022. Baltimore, MD.

Radway, Sarah, Miranda Christ, and Steven M. Bellovin. “ Differential Privacy and Swapping: Examining De-Identification’s Impact on Minority Representation and Privacy Preservation in the US Census .” Computing Research Association-Widening Participation 2022. April 2022. New Orleans, LA.

Awards

2023:

• 2023 School of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Contributor To Engineering Education Award
• Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Prize Fellowship

2022:

• NSF 2022 Graduate Research Fellow
• 2022-2023 Kirk and Janelle Loevner Endowed Fellowship
• 1st Place, 15-Minute Talk, Tufts Student Research Competition 2022
• Computing Research Association, Grad Cohort Workshop for Women ; Selected As Funded Attendee
• Heidelberg Laureate Forum; Selected As Funded Student Attendee

2021:

• Columbia University Computer Science Department Award: Theodore R. Bashkow Award
• NASA SUITS Finalist: xEMU Augmented Reality Spacesuit Development Challenge

2020:

• Columbia University Leadership and Excellence Award: Inclusion & Advocacy
• Columbia University Scholars Program – 2020 Research Summer Funding Recipient

Teaching Programs:

Emerging Scholars Program: Student Coordinator (2021-23) Led a discussion based course focused on encouraging students to pursue computer science beyond the introductory level.

SUITS Research Team: Group Leader (2019-21) Established and led a team of underclassmen students selected as finalists for the NASA SUITS Challenge, in which we created an augmented reality (AR) UI for the new spacesuit, reporting to NASA and Microsoft.

Academic Service:

MIT Science Policy Review: Executive Editor (2022-23) Responsible for oversight of the selection, development, and review of security & privacy articles submitted to the MIT Science Policy Review Volume IV.

Workshop on Inclusive Privacy and Security (WIPS) 2023– Program Committee Member

Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS) 2023 – Poster Program Committee

Outreach:

Harvard Women In SEAS Research Day (2024) — Invited Speaker

Securing Governance Assembly, Notre Dame Academy (2024) — Panelist

Girl Security – Mentor (2024)

Columbia University – Columbia College Student Council 
VP, Finance Chair (2019-2020)
-Managed and allocated of over $1,000,000 in student life funds, as well as several college-wide co-sponsorship funds 
-Served on executive board of student council and led weekly Finance Board meetings 
-Expanded initiative funding farm-shares for low-income students, to ensure all students have access to affordable fresh produce.  
Class Representative (2017-2019) 
-Created initiative to provide subsidized MetroCards for low-income students, continued managing funding for initiative 2019-20 as Finance Lead.  
-Represented and advocated for the needs of students in my year in council meetings, and managed class funds.

Academy I Middle School CS & Aerospace Program (January 2021) Led a series of virtual presentations for the 6th graders of Academy 1, covering The Artemis Mission, Augmented Reality (AR), and User Interface (UI) Design.

McNair College Readiness Prep (January 2021) Virtual event for McNair Academic High School sophomores to talk about early programs and fly-ins, standardized testing, college applications, extracurricular and volunteering, private vs public, community college, and transfers.

Columbia University Educational Outreach SPLASH (November 2020) Virtually led a workshop to students from across NYC about HCI, software development, and user interface design, in order to interest students in a career in STEM or computer science.

Columbia Space Initiative’s Aerospace Internship Panel (October 2019) (October 2020) Served as a panelist and presented to undergraduate students about the process of applying to internships at NASA, and getting involved with research at Columbia.

Society of Women Engineer’s Engineering Exploration Experience (March 2020) Led a VR workshop, teaching high school girls about software development, graphics, and academic research, in order to interest students in a career in STEM or computer science.

Sophie Gerson Days at Columbia (March 2020) Led a VR workshop, teaching students from Bronx science about software development, graphics, aerospace engineering, and academic research, in order to interest students in a career in STEM or computer science.

CSI Mentorship Program (Spring 2020) Served as a mentor for an undergraduate student interested in scientific exploration and policy.

Columbia Space Initiative’s Aerospace Internship Panel (October 2019, October 2020) Served as a panelist and presented to undergraduate students about the process of applying to internships at NASA, and getting involved with research at Columbia.