PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Pierangela Samarati

Pierangela Samarati is a computer scientist whose work protects personal data in information systems and machine-learning analysis. She graduated in computer science at the University of Milan in 1988, worked at SRI International, and co-authored a 1998 paper with Latanya Sweeney on generalization and k-anonymity. At Milan, she became a full professor in 2000, received the IEEE Computer Society Technical Achievement Award in 2016, and became an ACM Fellow in 2021. Her 2024 work applies anonymization to biometric data while preserving features for machine-learning analysis. As of October 2026, she is a professor in the University of Milan's Computer Science Department; in 2026, she serves as vice-chair of the IEEE CS Fellow Evaluation Committee.

Works
536
Citations
21,111
h-index
65

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1988

    A computer science degree

    She graduates in computer science at the University of Milan in 1988.

  2. 1997–1999

    Research at SRI

    From 1997 to 1999, she works as a computer scientist at SRI International in California.

  3. 1998

    Generalizing records for privacy

    In a 1998 paper, she and Latanya Sweeney use generalization and k-anonymity to limit links between released data and individuals.

  4. Since 2000

    Full professor at Milan

    In October 2000, she becomes a full professor in the University of Milan's Computer Science Department.

  5. 2016

    An IEEE Computer Society award

    The IEEE Computer Society selects her for its 2016 Technical Achievement Award for contributions to data security and privacy.

  6. 2021–2022

    ACM Fellow and lab director

    She becomes an ACM Fellow for contributions to data security and privacy in 2021. In 2022, she leads the Security, Privacy, and Data Protection Laboratory at the University of Milan.

  7. 2024

    Biometric data anonymization

    In 2024, she coauthors a framework that anonymizes biometric data while retaining features for downstream machine-learning analyses.

  8. As of October 2026

    Vice-chair of an IEEE committee

    She is a professor in the University of Milan's Computer Science Department. In 2026, she serves as vice-chair of the IEEE CS Fellow Evaluation Committee.

Sources and credits

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  1. Pierangela Samarati - Full Professor [DI - UNIMI] » Curriculum vitae samarati.di.unimi.it. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. DiSC - PODS Paper Index sigmod.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Prof. Pierangela Samarati Named to Receive IEEE Computer Society 2016 Technical Achievement Award computer.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Meet ACM Fellow – Pierangela Samarati acmweurope.acm.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. [2405.15062] Model-Agnostic Utility-Preserving Biometric Information Anonymization arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Pierangela Samarati - Full Professor [DI - UNIMI] » Short Biography samarati.di.unimi.it. Checked 15 October 2026.