Princeton University

At Princeton University and at the Center for Information Technology Policy(CITP), our goal is to build the intellectual infrastructure for a healthy relationship between digital technology and society. We do this through our research, impact work, and educational programs. We engage with members of the Princeton community and beyond, by playing a catalytic role in the larger ecosystem of governments, companies, and organizations working at the intersection between digital technologies and public life. Some of our PIT highlights and commitments include the following programs:

1. The CITP Emerging Scholars program is a post-baccalaureate program that brings in people who have a bachelor’s degree for two-year staff positions at CITP. The program provides intensive research and/or work experience with real impact, along with coursework, and mentoring. Here is more about the first cohort and the future of this program https://engineering.princeton.edu/news/2021/11/17/emerging-scholars-join-citps-community-tech-and-society-researchers

2. Technology Policy Clinic: The clinic, launched in 2019, enables our community to contribute to vital policy discussions concerning the role of digital technologies in our society. At the clinic, we engage directly with policy makers to develop state-of-the-art research, and we translate that research into practical proposals that advance the public interest.

3. Fellows Program: CITP’s fellows programs, launched in 2010, has generated several impactful research and policy projects. The fellows programs broadens the University’s – intellectual reach, producing interdisciplinary research with long-term scientific and societal impact.

4. Public Interest Technology-Summer Fellowship (PIT-SF): PIT-SF was launched in 2020 to provide experiential training opportunities to undergraduate students in technology policy jobs at the federal, state and local government. We invite students from all over the country to apply to this program. In summer 2020, we placed nine students (from six universities) in internships at the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York City Mayor’s CTO office. In summer 2021, we are placing fifteen students (from seven universities) in six organizations: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the New York City Mayor’s CTO office, San Jose Mayor’s office and the office of the attorney general in Texas, Iowa, and Washington, DC.

5. Undergraduate Certificate program: At Princeton University we have been running a successful undergraduate certificate program(minor) under the Program in Technology and Society, Information Track since 2011. The program’s graduates have come from 23 different disciplines including computer science, anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, classics and religion. Participants take a combination of technology and societal courses, and do an independent work project that they share with their graduating cohort in an annual symposium.

Deborah A. Prentice, Provost and Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs

Tithi Chattopadhyay, Ph.D., Associate Director, Center for Information Technology Policy

Career Pipeline/Placement

Public Interest Technology Summer Fellowship Program

The project is a continuation of a two-year-old summer fellowship program, which builds a pipeline for talented tech-minded students to work with government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels who increasingly confront high-profile challenges in managing the impact of new technologies.

The fellowship will invite students from across PIT-UN to participate in the program. The program commences with an academic boot camp led by the technology policy clinic of the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) with guest lectures by CITP faculty and current and former government officials. This preparatory seminar grounds students in the basics of the regulatory landscape and introduces them to the challenges ahead to allow them to hit the ground running when they embark on their 10-week internship with the host government agency.

Mihir Kshirsagar, Clinic Lead

Career Pipeline/Placement

Funded Project 

The public interest technology summer internship program builds a pipeline for talented computer science students to work with consumer protection agencies at the federal, state and local level who increasingly confront high-profile challenges in regulating new technologies.

Mihir Kshirsagar, Clinic Lead