The Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST) REU Site integrates cyber security, privacy, and trustworthy systems with science and technology education to be intellectually, socially, and politically relevant and attractive to a diverse set of participants?in particular underrepresented minorities and women. The program project is a collaborative effort led by the TRUST Science & Technology Center that has six components: (1) an eight-week summer immersion research residency; (2) a series of symposia and advising workshops targeted at recruiting undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students interested in security and privacy; (3) a novel and innovative curriculum with learning activities coupled with social interaction and fun aspects of computer science and cyber security for two-year and four-year students; (4) cyber-enabled learning environments to connect participants and researchers; (5) industry seminars and field trips to highlight research trends and career opportunities in cyber security; and (6) post-session research conference participation.
Keeping information and computer systems secure is one of the country?s most formidable challenges. Daily headlines chronicle the fraud, viruses, privacy abuses, network outages, and security vulnerabilities across the spectrum of critical systems that support the nation?s financial, energy, healthcare, and transportation infrastructure. As such, technological research must consider security in a hierarchy of approaches that range from secure embedded systems to complex interdependent systems. However, creating secure, private, and trustworthy systems cannot be accomplished solely through technological means. To create secure, private, and trustworthy technology and systems requires an understanding of the relationship between the component parts and how one domain interacts with the other. Thus, there is an acute need for human resources who possess a deep understanding of the technical and non-technical foundations of STEM and trustworthy systems. In order to address this, the TRUST REU Site will blend cyberinfrastructure-enhanced discovery and learning opportunities with interdisciplinary research using the active-learning Peer-Led Team Learning approach to incorporate STEM, cyber security, and trustworthy systems science and technology concepts to create a research and education environment that will train the next generation of computer scientists and engineers who will develop new trustworthy systems.
Beyond the main goal of increasing the number of women and underrepresented minorities attaining baccalaureate degrees in STEM and continuing on to graduate education and technical careers, this program will have a broader impact on the cyber security and trustworthy systems community by becoming a model for collaborative secondary education partnerships that incorporate community college and undergraduate programs within a STEM educational framework. The program will emphasize four stages of the education pipeline (Recruitment, Transfer, Retention, and Advancement) and aim to capture students early enough in the pipeline that they will consider pursuing a major or career in STEM in general and cyber security in particular. The TRUST REU Site will also demonstrate how collaborative partnerships with operational strategies that support effective and engaging learning experience can inject resources designed to stimulate interest in STEM and cyber security among female and URM community college and four-year baccalaureate students and serve as a model for cyber security and trustworthy systems research and education projects at similar institutions in the future.
