BU Sloan Fellowship Winner Mark Bun on Data Privacy, Embracing Failure, Baking Cakes
Mark Bun, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of computer science and 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship winner. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun
BU Sloan Fellowship Winner Mark Bun on Data Privacy, Embracing Failure, Baking Cakes
“I usually learn more about a problem from repeatedly failing to solve it than from the one time I succeed”
Mark Bun, a Boston University College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of computer science, is one of 118 early-career scholars to be awarded a respected 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship. The Sloan Foundation, which awards each fellow $75,000 to be spent over a two-year term on any expense supporting their research, says its winners “represent the most promising scientific researchers working today. Their achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders in the US and Canada.”
Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, a total of 56 BU faculty—including Bun—have received the fellowship. The Brink asked Bun about his work and what inspires him in his research.
Q&A
Mark Bun
The Brink: Do you remember the first thing you programmed on a computer, and what did you learn from that experience?
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The Brink: The Sloan Research Fellowship rewards creativity. What’s your approach to finding creative solutions to old problems? Any tricks or tips you can share?
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The Brink: How could your research and work impact or improve the life of someone reading this?
Bun: A lot of my work is on the algorithmic aspects of data privacy—how can we analyze sensitive information about individuals while providing meaningful safeguards on their privacy? I contribute to technology that will let an entity—such as the Census Bureau, a tech company, or someone running a research study—analyze your data in a privacy-respecting way, and transparently communicate to you how much risk to you that analysis incurred. Even if one doesn’t really care about their own privacy (I personally am quite blasé—like, I’ll eagerly answer a prying ad survey in exchange for a few cents of app store credit), it still matters insofar as one believes in ideals like an equitable society. For instance, without an expectation of privacy—among other guarantees—it is impossible for marginalized individuals to have full representation in institutions without the fear that their data could be misused against them.
The Brink: The Sloan Research Fellowship is for young trailblazing researchers. When you hit the end of your career and look back, what would you like to have achieved?
Bun: Nothing would be more rewarding than to have everything I’ve ever done rendered obsolete because my students figured out a way to do it all better.
The Brink: What other outlets or hobbies do you have for your curiosity and creativity? How do they shape you and your approach to your work?
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