Tamalika Mukherjee joins MPI-SP as Research Group Leader

Mukherjee will establish a research group focused on the foundations of data privacy. Her research is rooted in the design and analysis of privacy-preserving algorithms within theoretical computer science, while also engaging with questions about fairness, accountability, and societal implications of AI systems and machine learning.

Before joining the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, Tamalika Mukherjee was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University. She has a PhD degree in Computer Science from Purdue University and has been a Student Researcher at Google Research.

Her work primarily advances the theoretical underpinnings of data privacy. For example, she develops sublinear-space and sublinear-time differentially private algorithms for streaming and graph models, achieving efficiency guarantees that match or approach the best known non-private algorithms. In addition, she has co-authored interdisciplinary work that connects algorithmic privacy research with policy and practice. An example of such work is a recent case study about implementing equitable privacy frameworks for marginalized communities.

During her stay at MPI-SP, she will continue her work on developing theoretical models and algorithms for privacy-preserving data analysis and examining how such algorithms interact with social science, law, and policy. She will further expand her research to examine the privacy implications of AI systems and machine learning applications.

“I am thrilled to join MPI-SP and begin building my group at the intersection of privacy and responsible AI.” says Mukherjee. “The institute’s unique combination of expertise in cryptography, security, and privacy provides an inspiring environment for advancing the theory and practice of differential privacy and exploring broader fairness and accountability trade-offs in AI. I look forward to dynamic collaborations across MPI-SP and the broader Max Planck Society that will deepen the foundations of privacy-preserving technologies and ensure their responsible deployment in society.”