UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Researchers conducting studies that use personal information, such as health data, have to be ever cautious in the new age of technology due to the quickly evolving issues regarding privacy.
Big data can provide critical insights into personalized medicine and treatment, but how do researchers avoid issues like legal or policy trouble regarding this kind of information? The Penn State Institute for CyberScience (ICS) will offer a CyberScience Seminar titled “Digital Human Data Research: Critical Law, Policy, & Business Considerations” to discuss these topics.
The seminar will be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Oct. 11 in 134 HUB-Robeson Center, and also will be streamed online via Zoom. Attendees can expect to learn about navigating potential legal or policy pitfalls related to doing research with human health, biometric or sensor data and how different types of data should be handled for legal compliance requirements.
The moderator, Anne Toomey McKenna, Dickinson Law’s distinguished scholar of cyber law and policy and ICS co-hire, currently teaches "Cyberlaw in Practice and Information Privacy Law" at Dickinson Law.
Four panelists also will discuss IT and data storage and access considerations for sensitive data and what resources are available at Penn State for researchers interested in commercialization and taking products to market.
Panelists will include:
- Reuben Kraft, assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering and ICS faculty co-hire
- Rachel Herder, assistant professor of clinical law, Penn State Law, and director of Penn State’s Intellectual Property Clinic
- Ryan Gilmore, interim technical director, Institute for CyberScience
- Thomas Sharbaugh, professor of practice, Penn State Law, and director of Penn State’s Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic
Space is limited, so reserve a seat for the seminar by Oct. 8. The event includes the panel discussion, a question-and-answer session, and time to socialize. Refreshments will be served.
The ICS CyberScience Seminar series is designed to showcase how data-intensive cyberscience and computational models address real-world scientific and social problems. ICS CyberScience Seminars explore a wide range of topics.