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OpenDP Graduate Student Fellow

Harvard University

Harvard University

USD 50k-50k / year
Posted on Dec 12, 2025

Position

Details
Title OpenDP Graduate Student Fellow
School Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Department/Area OpenDP
Position Description
The OpenDP Summer Program offers a summer of research and mentorship for students interested in implementing differential privacy. For the ten-week summer program, we match PhD and undergraduate students with projects that align with OpenDP’s goals and vision. OpenDP is a community effort to build trustworthy, open-source software tools for statistical analysis of sensitive private data. These tools, which we call OpenDP, offer the rigorous protections of differential privacy for the individuals who may be represented in confidential data and statistically valid methods of analysis for researchers who study the data.

Applicants will also be considered for fellowships in the broader Privacy Tools Project. Some past OpenDP internships and fellowships have led to published research papers or senior theses; students who are interested in a research-oriented project should indicate that on their application, and we will try to develop a project with a research component.

This summer, we are looking for students in the following project areas:
  • Building and integrating software
  • Community building and outreach
  • Usability and UX
  • Writing math proofs
  • Machine learning and differential privacy
  • Privacy, ethics, policy, and responsible use
Basic Qualifications
This opening is for students who have completed a bachelor’s degree.
Additional Qualifications
We welcome post-bacc, master’s, and PhD students for this position. Applicants should have some background in differential privacy and demonstrated interest in the project area(s) that they hope to explore this summer.

OpenDP is a community initiative and we welcome individuals from all backgrounds to apply for this position.
Special Instructions
Contact Information
Nina Wattenberg
Harvard Science and Engineering Complex, Office 4.444
150 Western Ave
Boston, MA 02134
Contact Email info@opendp.org
Salary Range
The yearly salary for this position is $50,000, prorated for the ten-week duration of the fellowship.
Minimum Number of References Required 3
Maximum Number of References Allowed 3
Keywords

EEO/Non-Discrimination Commitment Statement

Harvard University is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination. We seek talent from all parts of society and the world, and we strive to ensure everyone at Harvard thrives. Our differences help our community advance Harvard’s academic purposes.

Harvard has an equal employment opportunity policy that outlines our commitment to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, religion, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or identified in the university’s non-discrimination policy. Harvard’s equal employment opportunity policy and non-discrimination policy help all community members participate fully in work and campus life free from harassment and discrimination.

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

  1. * Please describe the background of your interest in privacy technologies, and differential privacy in particular.

    (Open Ended Question)

  2. * In a few sentences, please share what motivated you to apply.

    (Open Ended Question)

  3. * Which types of projects are you most interested in? Please select a maximum of three.
    • Building and integrating software
    • Community building and outreach
    • Usability UX
    • Writing math proofs
    • Privacy, ethics, policy, and responsible use
    • Machine learning and differential privacy
  4. If you have explored other funding opportunities for your 2025 summer fellowship with us, please let us know here:

    (Open Ended Question)

  5. If you are interested in contributing code to OpenDP, please share a link that is a good representation of how you approach software development. The programming language doesn’t matter. A project of your own is fine, but a contribution to a larger project is even better. We’ll look at things like use of version control, code organization, use of testing and CI, documentation, and collaboration.

    (Open Ended Question)

  6. If you are interested in contributing code to OpenDP, please share code for a statistical or machine learning project, either your own or a larger project you’ve contributed to. We’ll look at the documentation, the soundness of the analysis, and the creativity of the approach.

    (Open Ended Question)

Applicant Documents

Required Documents
  1. Curriculum Vitae
  2. Cover Letter
  3. Transcript
Optional Documents