Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Arizona State University received a $391,490 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Computer and Network Systems under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) beginning May 1, 2026, with completion targeted for April 30, 2031. This CAREER award supports the development of a systematic data governance framework designed to protect student privacy at higher education institutions while enabling the productive use of institutional data for research and educational improvement. The project formalizes privacy risk modeling processes and creates a threat ontology applicable to higher education settings, establishing the foundation for comprehensive privacy protection protocols.

The award funds three primary deliverables: (1) the development of novel mitigation techniques addressing privacy attacks, including censoring-based approaches for machine learning model representations and causality-aware, differentially private synthetic data generation methods; (2) a web-based, visual, and interactive privacy risk assessment tool developed through participatory design that operationalizes the threat ontology and mitigation techniques; and (3) implementation and testing of the privacy risk assessment tool at three universities, accompanied by training sessions for data stewards and privacy officers. No subawards are planned under this award. The project directly advances student privacy protections and education research capabilities in data security at higher education institutions.