IUCRC Phase II: University at Buffalo: Center for Identification Technology Research CITeR

Suny At Buffalo, Amherst NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center focused on developing identity systems. A provable and verifiable identity is a necessity in modern society and the foundation for reliable identity systems. A confirmed identity allows one to work, maintain a bank account, and drive a car. It also facilitates a safe society, allowing authorities to identify bad actors, such as suspected terrorists on no-fly lists. In partnership with government and industry stakeholders, CITeR advances the state of the art in human identification capabilities through coordinated university research related to identity. CITeR is focused on developing technologies for providing, confirming, and determining identity. CITeR's core research focuses on identity systems resting on firm pillars of trust, privacy, security, and reliability. The focus of the SUNY University at Buffalo (UB) site is on innovative applications of traditional, soft and behavioral biometrics, biometric template security, multi-modality fusion, behavioral biometrics, emerging biometrics (brain, heart, cognitive etc.), and novel biometric test phantoms, and this complements the strengths of the other university sites. CITeR affiliates will also benefit from being able to benchmark and assess the effectiveness of various biometric technologies in real applications. The UB site will further CITeR's objective to serve as a comprehensive academic center serving the growing identification technology research and outreach needs of the public and private sectors. Led by faculty, UB students, graduate and undergraduate, will actively engage in STEM outreach programs that use biometrics research as a draw to pique the interest of K-12 students’ program. UB faculty will work with the NSF-AGEP (The Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) program whose goal is to increase the number of students and postdocs preparing for faculty careers. CITeR is committed to data sharing and intends to maintain a project repository well beyond the current duration of the grant. Information regarding all data sets generated from CITeR projects will be archived at the single center-wide repository at https://citer.clarkson.edu/biometric-dataset-collections/ Project results such as publications and tools will be disseminated through the center portal maintained at the lead site https://citer.clarkson.edu/ Open-sourced code will be disseminated through GitHub repositories for individual projects and links will be shared through the central CITeR portal. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.