REU Site: Information Assurance and Security

Dakota State University, Madison SD

Investigators

Abstract

This project proposes to establish a three-year REU site program in information assurance and security (IAS) at Dakota State University (DSU). The objective of this program is to provide a diverse pool of motivated undergraduate students with a competitive research experience in IAS. Specifically, the proposed REU site will offer an nine-week summer program for nine undergraduate students each year to develop confidence as researchers and scientists. To assure the diversity of participants, the site will select up to 40% of the students from DSU (a primarily undergraduate institution) and at least 60% from other academic institutions in the Upper Midwest and across the nation. The recruiting effort will focus on students from underrepresented groups and academic institutions with limited research opportunities or without IAS programs. During the nine-week program, each student will work with a faculty mentor at DSU on a carefully designed research project. In the first few weeks, students will focus on developing projects. A series of tutorials and workshops will be provided to help students establish necessary background knowledge and learn about how to conduct scientific research in IAS. Students will also work with their individual advisors, read literature, and design their projects. For the remaining weeks, students will carry out their projects under the supervision of their mentors. They will also attend the weekly seminars by faculty and invited industry speakers and report their weekly progress. In the last week, students will prepare a written report and an oral presentation. Intellectual Merit: IAS is a field of national priority. Recent security incidents indicate that many organizations such as banks have not adequately responded to the IAS issues. The project provides undergraduate students with a competitive research experience in this important field. They will tackle a variety of significant IAS problems, ranging from secure design and verification, security testing, to forensics of security incidents. This will have an important impact on the defense in-depth of information systems such as online banking applications. A unique feature of this project is the integration of the fundamental IAS problems into an important application domain (i.e., banking and finance). Broader Impacts: This project will allow a diverse pool of motivated students from underrepresented groups and universities with limited research opportunities to gain research experiences in IAS. It builds upon an existing partnership with a consortium of schools in the Upper Midwest. It will strengthen the partnership by providing their students with a competitive research experience which would otherwise be unavailable. The recruitment process will capitalize on minority institutions that have established connections with DSU, specifically the Oglala-Lakota College in South Dakota and Florida International University. The REU program provides valuable skills that will help participants integrate their research experiences with their ongoing classroom instruction. The process of learning how to do research, write up and present their research results will better prepare them for their future field of study and motivate them to pursue graduate studies.