This CISE Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site award funds a new REU site focused on the security and mobile sensing at Columbus State University. The REU site will provide 8 undergraduates per summer the opportunity to work with faculty mentors in state-of-the-art research labs on projects in the important areas of cybersecurity and mobile sensing. Mobile computing devices and their associated sensing capabilities and applications are pervasive in our society. Security of these devices and the data that is collected through related applications is an important concern to all citizens. This site will give students an opportunity to explore and delve deeply into an area of computing that is relevant and timely. The REU Site will benefit from access to the new Cybersecurity Center at Columbus State University (CSU). CSU was has also been designed as a Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency. The students will also participate in a number of professional development activities and field trips that will prepare them for future careers as computing professionals in the field of cybersecurity, an area of critical need for the workforce of the future. This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.
The project is led by an outstanding of faculty mentors to guide undergraduates in explorations of problems related to the security and mobile sensing. The goal of the site is to excite undergraduates and to provide research experiences to students who might not otherwise have opportunities for research experiences at their own institutions. The site will particularly seek to recruit students from groups under-represented in computing fields The site has the potential to will contribute to the field of mobile sensing and security through research and implementation of algorithms, frameworks, and applications for security and privacy, intelligent data collection and analysis, indoor location methods, and power management mechanisms for mobile sensor network environments. Computer security and mobile sensing are fundamental components of many consumer products as well as many common applications in areas such as healthcare, transportation and traffic control, home and building automation, environmental monitoring, and energy that are important in our society. These are all areas which should appeal to students and actively engage them in projects that are meaningful to the computing research community and relevant to all citizens.
