Princeton University researcher secures 67K Facebook award

David Hutter//August 13, 2018

Princeton University computer science researcher Marshini Chetty has been awarded $67,000 by Facebook.Princeton University computer science researcher Marshini Chetty has been awarded $67,000 by Facebook.

Chetty is part of a team that aims to understand how mobile users understand and manage privacy on social media platforms in South Africa.

“We are researching how users make use of social media in South Africa – we will focus on users with a variety of income levels but in particular on mobile internet users who may only get online via a mobile internet connection as opposed to a fixed broadband connection,” Chetty told NJBIZ. “We will be studying the use of platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and so forth and we will focus on how users manage their privacy on these platforms. Our goals are to help improve privacy tools for social media platforms.”

Facebook made a $1 million commitment in 2017 to support research on emerging security and privacy topics.

Chetty received the award earlier this month at the Black Hat USA security conference in Las Vegas, Nev.