Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Computer And Network RESIliency and Security for Transportation (CAN-RESIST)

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research. A revolution in multimodal transportation systems is underway thanks to emerging connectivity, data analytics, and automation technologies. This promises to transformative roadway transportation (cars, public transit, and freight), rail, ports, and airports. While this evolution of transportation promises great benefits, it also brings new challenges, particularly risks from automation and cyber-enabled technologies. This project facilitates the planning of a research center, dedicated convergent research, to develop new concepts for connected transportation system safety and security through a series of workshops, bringing together broad stakeholder communities from transportation systems and from cyber-physical systems security. These workshops address several interrelated strategic objectives for future transportation systems: (1) assessing the risks in the ever-changing technological and E-service systems, (2) identifying the business, legal and social contexts of security threats, (3) engineering strategic security solutions, and (4) educating a future workforce and building workforce capacity. These workshops emphasize the development of innovative concepts and technologies for software security, network security, and device and system security, for multimodal transportation systems. The workshops cut across disciplinary boundaries in the fields of transportation, communications, computer science, and the computational sciences. These advances would greatly benefit smart cities, urban planners, cyber-manufacturing, and e-commerce. Plans for the center integrate research and education, create a diverse and inclusive work environment, foster an ecosystem of innovation in transportation security, and engage the public on the opportunities and challenges for a safer, more secure, next-generation of transportation systems. 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.