Jingjing Ren

Education

• BEng in Software Engineering, Shandong University - China

About Me

• Hometown: China
• Field of Study: Distributed Systems and Networks, Mobile Privacy
• PhD Advisor: David Choffnes

Biography

Jingjing Ren is a PhD student in the Computer Science program at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, advised by Professor David Choffnes. Jingjing’s field of study includes distributed systems and networks as well as mobile privacy, with research and lab groups such as Social Networks Group and Networked Systems Group. Jingjing spent her undergraduate studies in China at Shandong University, where she earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Software Engineering, with a focus in human-computer-interaction and machine learning.

At Northeastern, Jingjing is interested in researching mobile networks, and how mobile users’ data is used the mobile devices themselves, application companies, and how the data is used on the advertisement/analytic end. With a special interest in privacy in mobile networks, Jingjing would like to efficiently and accurately help users gain more of a hold on their personally identifiable information (PII) that is leaked through the network traffic of their mobile devices, and she would like to research how that PII is sent to and handled by different parties.

What are the specifics of your graduate education (thus far)?

I majored in software engineering when I was in undergraduate. My focus was human computer interaction and machine learning back then.

What are your research interests?

I am generally interested in mobile networks, especially how users' data are used by our mobile devices, companies behind apps and advertisers/analytics. I come from a background in human-computer interaction knowledge, and I am really concerned about end users' experiences, which align with my special interest in privacy in mobile networks.

What’s one problem you’d like to solve with your research/work?

It is well known that apps running on mobile devices extensively track and leak users’ personally identifiable information (PII); however, users have little visibility into PII leaked through the network traffic generated by their devices, and have poor control over how, when, and where that traffic is sent and handled by different parties.

What aspect of what you do is most interesting?

The fact that our work can benefit end users directly is very important to me. Much existing research on privacy of mobile networks is intellectually challenging, and they've done a great job revealing the essence of problems, but average users often find those tools hard to use and eventually give up. My current and future work put great emphasis on efficiency, accuracy, and pushing the benefits to average users.

Where did you study for your undergraduate degree?

I earned my Bachelor of Engineering at Shandong University, in Shandong, China.

Recent Publications