IIIT Delhi B.Tech. student, Samiya Caur receives the prestigious IAPP Annual Westin Scholar Award

26th May’21, Delhi – Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology is pleased to announce the 2021 IAPP Westin Scholar Award honoree as Samiya Caur, B.Tech. Class of 2021.  With the growing need for well-qualified privacy and data protection professionals, the annual Westin Scholar Awards were created by the International Association of Privacy Professionals to support students who are identified as future leaders in the field of privacy and data protection. 

As a participating Westin Scholar Award school, IIITD’s Prof. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru “PK” has selected Samiya Caur to receive this year’s award in recognition of her contribution, enthusiasm, and excitement around the topic of privacy in his class CSE648: Privacy and Security in Online Social Media. 

“The industry of privacy is fast growing and constantly evolving. We’ve created this award as a way to put the privacy profession at the forefront of student's minds as they explore potential career opportunities,” said J. Trevor Hughes, IAPP President, and CEO. “Congratulations, Samiya. We look forward to seeing the good work you will bring to the field of privacy.”

“It is so satisfying to see our student Samiya receive this Alan Westin Award, I remember getting introduced to Westin’s Privacy Indexes in 2004. I am super thankful to IAPP for sponsoring this award for the students of my course; this is a great way of building next generation privacy leaders in India. Samiya was very active in the class, contributed to the privacy discussion, specifically bringing different perspectives of privacy into discussion, and connecting various dots of the privacy topic. The home works and class assignments submitted by her always stood apart; they reflected her interest and deep understanding of the topic” Says Prof. PK

Samiya Caur will be awarded the following:

• A $1,000 cash award
• A copy of the book “Privacy and Freedom”, by Dr. Alan Westin
• 2 years of membership with the IAPP
• 3 complimentary exams for IAPP certifications (CIPP, CIPM, CIPT)
• Unlimited access to online training for recipient’s selected IAPP certification exams 

“I was surprised to learn that I had been chosen to be one of the recipients of the Westin Scholar Award from IAPP. I feel honored to have received this award. I am thankful to Professor Kumaraguru and IIIT Delhi for providing me this opportunity. I look forward to being a part of the distinguished community at IAPP. I hope to further my knowledge in the field of privacy through the resources offered by them. I believe, this will be a valuable learning experience for me. “ says Samiya. 

About the Westin Scholar Award

The Westin Scholar Awards pay homage to the late Dr. Alan Westin, a foundational voice in the field of privacy and data protection. Throughout his life, Dr. Westin researched and wrote about privacy, data protection, digital identity and the future of how societies will deal with issues at the intersection of law and technology. He is the namesake for the IAPP Westin Research Center and Fellowship Program, which was founded in 2013 and serves as a pathway for future leaders in the community. For more information on the Westin Scholar Award, please visit: https://iapp.org/westin-research-center/higher-education/.