Office of Naval Research Grant Puts University of New Haven at the Forefront of

Keelan Carey ’22 is gaining hands-on experience in cybersecurity research that is enabling him to build a foundation for a successful career. He is currently working on a research paper, and he plans to share his work with the University community.

Carey is an inaugural member of the Cyber Operative REsearch Scholars (CORES) program at the University of New Haven. Since joining in August, he has been researching the cybersecurity field and exploring his own interests. He and his research partner are studying neural networks and open-source intelligence (OSINT) collection methods, and they are working to determine whether automated OSINT collection methods are vulnerable to attacks.

“I have been introduced to what seems like a never-ending stream of information about cybersecurity and machine learning,” said Carey, a national security major. “I have learned about machine learning, OSINT collection methods, coding in python, adversarial machine learning, transformers, and the list goes on. Being so new to this field is exciting because there is always something to learn, especially considering how often state-of-the-art discoveries are made.”

‘I am excited to track their progress’

Carey is one of a dozen students who are taking part in the program. They are broken into two teams – one, which includes Carey, is led by Vahid Behzadan, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the University’s Tagliatela College of Engineering, and the other is led by Ibrahim Baggili, Ph.D., the lead principle investigator of the program, Elder Family Chair, and director of the University’s Connecticut Institute of Technology.

The innovative program is a rigorous yearlong research residency opportunity that endeavors to position students for cybersecurity government positions. They take part in hands-on and technical research projects and build strong cybersecurity research skills.

As part of the group research experience, students develop a proposal outlining their research project, then collaborate on work in areas such as digital forensics, artificial intelligence (AI) security, and the applications of AI and machine learning to cybersecurity.

“The CORES program has so far been a tremendous success in training the next generation of cybersecurity researchers,” said Dr. Behzadan. “Our undergraduate students are not only learning about the fundamentals of cybersecurity and AI research, but they are also gaining hands-on experience by investigating cutting-edge problems, such as the security of brain-computer interfaces and AI-enabled intelligence collection systems. I am proud of how far all of our CORES students have come so far, and I am excited to track their progress in the coming months.”

‘Our students are working on amazing projects’

Drs. Behzadan and Baggili are teaching them about the research process, and the students’ experience will culminate in a symposium at which they will present their work to the University community and to the public. Groups will also submit their manuscripts for review to academic journals and conferences.

In addition to their research, students will develop an entrepreneurial mindset…