Rocky Coast Research

Joshua A. Kroll is a computer scientist, professor, and a leading expert recognized internationally for his work on responsibility, trustworthiness, and accountability in computer systems, especially in automated decision-making systems and systems that use data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. His paper "Accountable Algorithms", published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Vol. 165, 2016-17), gives a definitive overview of problems in fairness, accountability, and transparency in automated decision-making systems and the corresponding state-of-the-art solutions. The article received the Future of Privacy Forum's Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award in 2017. Joshua’s recent IEEE Security & Privacy article, “Data Science Data Governance,” provides a field manual to assist organizations in the creation of governance programs to manage compliance risks of data-oriented technologies—with specific reference to GDPR. Joshua continues to study how technology can satisfy normative goals such as fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics. He develops new technologies to support these goals, as well as new methodologies and best practices for technology governance.

Joshua has helped to develop and lead the field of fairness, accountability, and transparency in computer systems. He spoke at the inaugural Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in Machine Learning workshop (FAT/ML) in 2014. Since then, he has been a part of the organizing committee for FAT/ML, having served as chair of the program committee in 2017; he also acted as one of the organizers of the related Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAT^*, now ACM FAccT) in 2018. He continues to be an active researcher on the way technology fits within a human-driven, normative context and satisfies goals driven by ideals such as fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics as a professor of computer science. Joshua's previous research work spans accountable algorithms, cryptography, software security, formal methods, Bitcoin, and several aspects of technology policy.

Joshua holds a Bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from Harvard College as well as a Master's degree and a Doctorate in computer science from Princeton University. Prior to founding Rocky Coast Research, he spent two years working on cryptography and internet security at the web performance and security company Cloudflare. Additionally, he has previous experiences developing software and working on public policy at Google, was a researcher at SRI International, and consulted on intellectual property litigation with the firm Elysium Digital.

Joshua lives in Marin County, CA. You can find out more about Joshua at his website, including a list of his publications and speaking engagements.