March 29, 2024

Goodbye, Stanford. Hello, Princeton!

[Editor’s note: The Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) is delighted to welcome Arvind Narayanan as an Assistant Professor in Computer Science, and an affiliated faculty member in CITP. Narayanan is a leading researcher in digital privacy, data anonymization, and technology policy. His work has been widely published, and includes a paper with CITP co-authors […]

RIP Bill Zeller

All of us here at CITP were saddened by the death of Bill Zeller, our respected and much-loved colleague. Bill was a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science here at Princeton, who died last night due to injuries sustained in a suicide attempt.

There has been a huge outpouring of sympathy for Bill, both at Princeton and across the Internet, which is entirely appropriate. But I’d like to focus here on the positive side of Bill’s life.

Bill has made at least two appearances here on Freedom to Tinker, first as the instigator of the Miraculin experiment (Miracle Fruit: Tinkering with our Taste Buds), then later for his research on web security (Popular Websites Vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks).

Bill always had a new project brewing. His projects ranged from the quirky (the cult favorite Cats in Christmas Trees site) to an early blogging tool (Zempt, which was incorporated into Movable Type) to many useful software development tools (such as jLambda). Tens of millions of people have read or used something that Bill created.

Bill’s sense of humor was much appreciated by his friends. He would sometimes go to considerable lengths for the sake of a joke. Once, for the sake of an office joke, he created a technology package including an online game, an RSS-based miniblogging tool, and a screen saver. Then, later, he shut it all down, as a birthday present for the friend who was the target of his (good-natured) joke.

We have many, many fond memories of Bill, more than we could possibly fit here.

Those of you who knew Bill are invited to add your own fond memories in the comments.

CITP Seeks Visitors for 2011-2012

The Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) seeks candidates for positions as visiting faculty members or researchers, or postdoctoral research associates for one year appointments for the 2011-2012 academic year. Please see our website for additional information and requirements at http://citp.princeton.edu/call-for-visitors/.

If you are interested, please submit a CV and cover letter, stating background, intended research, and salary requirements, to jobs.princeton.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=60250.

Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and complies with applicable EEO and affirmative action regulations.

Announcing the CITP Visitors for 2010-2011

We are delighted to announce the CITP visiting scholars, practitioners, and collaborators for the 2010-2011 academic year. The diverse group of leading thinkers represents CITP’s highly interdisciplinary interests. We are looking forward to their work at the center, and welcome them to the family. The short list is below, but you can see more description on the announcement page.

  • Ronaldo Lemos, Fundação Getulio Vargas Law School
  • Fengming Liu, Microsoft
  • Frank Pasquale, Seton Hall
  • Wendy Seltzer, Berkman Center
  • Susan Crawford, Cardozo Law School
  • Alex Halderman, University of Michigan
  • Joe Hall, UC Berkeley School of Information
  • Ron Hedges, Former Federal Magistrate Judge
  • Adrian Hong, Pegasus Project
  • Rebecca MacKinnon, New America Foundation
  • Philip Napoli, Fordham
  • W. Russell Neuman, University of Michigan
  • Steven Roosa, Reed Smith


CITP Seeks Visiting Faculty, Scholars or Policy Experts for 2010-2011

The Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University seeks candidates for positions as visiting faculty members or researchers, or postdoctoral research associates for the 2010-2011 academic year.

About CITP

Digital technologies and public life are constantly reshaping each other—from net neutrality and broadband adoption, to copyright and file sharing, to electronic voting and beyond.

Realizing digital technology’s promise requires a constant sharing of ideas, competencies and norms among the technical, social, economic and political domains.

The Center for Information Technology Policy is Princeton University’s effort to meet this challenge. Its new home, which opened in September 2008, is a state of the art facility designed from the ground up for openness and collaboration. Located at the intellectual and physical crossroads of Princeton’s engineering and social science communities, the Center’s research, teaching and public programs are building the intellectual and human capital that our technological future demands.

To see what this mission can mean in practice, take a look at our website, at http://citp.princeton.edu.

About the Search

The Center has secured limited resources from a range of sources to support visiting faculty, scholars or policy experts for up to one-year appointments during the 2010-2011 academic year. We are interested in applications from academic faculty and researchers as well as from individuals who have practical experience in the policy arena. The rank and status of the successful applicant(s) will be determined on a case-by-case basis. We are particularly interested in hearing from faculty members at other universities and from individuals who have first-hand experience in public service in the technology policy area.

The successful applicant(s) will conduct research, engage in public programs, and may teach a seminar during their appointment subject to review and approval by the Dean of the Faculty. They’ll play an important role at a pivotal time in the development of this new center. They may be appointed to a visiting faculty or visiting fellow position, a term-limited research position, or a postdoctoral appointment, depending on qualifications.

We are happy to hear from anyone who works at the intersection of digital technology and public life. In addition to our existing strengths in computer science and sociology, we are particularly interested in identifying engineers, economists, lawyers, civil servants and policy analysts whose research interests are complementary to our existing activities.

If you are interested, please submit a CV and cover letter, stating background, intended research, and salary requirements, to https://jobs.princeton.edu.

Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and complies with applicable EEO and affirmative action regulations. For information about applying to Princeton and voluntarily self-identifying, please see http://www.princeton.edu/dof/about_us/dof_job_openings/

Deadline: March 1, 2010.