George T. Duncan

I like to use the ideas of statistical decision theory to tackle complicated issues of public concern, like the environment, health management, and dispute resolution. Right now, I am deeply involved in issues of resolving the tension between maintaining privacy and providing information. More generally, I teach and do research on social accountability aspects of information technology, with a focus on the World Wide Web. An intriguing activity for me was chairing the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Confidentiality and Data Access, which included economists, sociologists, psychologists, computer scientists, and lawyers. Now I chair the American Statistical Association's Privacy and Confidentiality Committee, and so get to interact with statisticians from government, business, and industry. What fascinates me about my research on confidentiality in statistical databases is how the mathematical ideas of Bayesian analysis, optimization algorithms, and linear algebra can be used to limit disclosure of sensitive information. With my appointment in the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, I work on the interplay of public policy problems and statistical models. I much enjoy collaboration with students as they discover how statistics can add so much insight to problems of public interest.

Some Related Publications

Duncan, G. T. (1998). Managing information privacy and information access in the public sector. Information Technology and Computer Applications in Public Administration, (G. David Garson, ed.), Hershey and London: Idea Group Publishing, 99-117.

Duncan, G. T., and Fienberg, S.E. (1998). Obtaining information while preserving privacy: A Markov perturbation method for tabular data, turning administrative systems into information systems, 1996 - 1997,IRS Methodology Report Series 5, (J. Dalton and B. Kilss, eds.), 223-231.

Duncan, G. T., and Mukherjee, S. (2000). Optimal disclosure limitation strategy in statistical databases: Deterring tracker attacks through additive noise. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 95, pp. 720-728.

Duncan, G. T., Jabine, T. B., and de Wolf, V. A. (1993). Private Lives and Public Policies: Confidentiality and Accessibility of Government Statistics, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.