​The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, provides its students with STEM education and research through experiential learning. More recently, the WPI received $594,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to research computer security.

An assistant professor and researcher, Shahin Tajik will help WPI ward off malicious attacks on their computer system through this research project. Tajik and his team will use the NSF funding to research technologies that prevent malicious attacks on computer hardware and chips.

The 5-year project includes a graduate course that Tajik will create related to micro-systems security. The course will also recruit undergraduate students.

Tajik likens research in hardware security to solving a puzzle, and then moving on to deal with more challenging problems that hackers cause. This work is important because it gives researchers a chance to explore and find solutions to hardware security weaknesses, an area that has long been overlooked.

The NSF award is part of its Faculty Early Career Development Program, which focuses on assisting faculty members at the beginning of their careers and helping them potentially become academic role models. So far, the NSF has awarded Tajik and another faculty member this award, with the other research project looking at ways to use bacteria to clean contaminated soil. For more information on the NSF grant or WPI research project, please visit wp.wpi.edu/stajik/.

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