REU Site Program to Engage Undergraduate Students in Cybersecurity Research

This paper presents the establishment of a research experience for undergraduates (REU) site at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). The objective of the REU site is to train undergraduates to conduct research and also provide participants with professional development opportunities from academia, industry, and government agencies. The major goals of the project are the following: 1) to introduce security research on smartphones and mobile networks to undergraduate students and prepare them for graduate studies; 2) to increase the number of women and minority students from underrepresented groups who engage in security research and provide support for them to become security researchers; 3) to provide research opportunities in a high-demand area to those who would otherwise have no access to research facilities; and 4) to increase awareness of, and approaches to, challenging problems of security in mobile devices and networks. We shared our experience of student recruitment, faculty mentor support, research activity planning and logistics of running an REU site at high living cost metropolitan area. The outcome and success stories of students’ accomplishments are outlined in this article.