2012 ITI Summer Internship Program Underway

Following a highly competitive selection process, eighteen undergraduate students from around the world are performing research internships in the Information Trust Institute (ITI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the summer of 2012.

This year is the sixth offering of the popular annual summer undergraduate research internship program. This summer's interns were chosen from among 395 applicants.

The student interns are participating in 8- to 10-week research projects, supervised by ITI researchers in a variety of information trust research areas. Interns have received stipends, housing, and, in some cases, an allocation for travel expenses. The internships are supported by multiple funding sources, particularly a "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" site award from the National Science Foundation.

"This type of undergraduate research experience provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn about the information trust and security field while they are also learning about the scientific research process," says Dr. Masooda Bashir, who is co-leader of the program. "In addition, it provides a great environment for undergraduates to consider pursuing graduate school and research as their future career path. This year's interns are bright and hardworking students, and we are fortunate to have them as part of our program."

This year, faculty mentors participating in the program are from the Illinois departments of Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and Mechanical Science & Engineering, as well as the Information Trust Institute. The program is co-led by Bashir, who is ITI's Assistant Director for Social Trust Initiatives, and ECE Professor Michael C. Loui.

In addition to working individually with faculty on real-world research projects, interns attend weekly seminars at which professors present talks on ongoing research work at Illinois and weekly sessions on ethics in the responsible conduct of research and in the development of information technology. Some interns also work with graduate student mentors who are participating in activities to develop their mentoring skills. The summer program will culminate in a poster session at which the interns will present the results of their work. In addition, the interns will write technical papers that describe their research accomplishments.

Below is a list of the successful applicants and their faculty mentors.

• Michael Angelini of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Prof. Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler.
• Estayvaine A. Bragg of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Prof. Ralph E. Johnson.
• Lucas Buccafusca of the University of Colorado at Boulder is working with Prof. Sayan Mitra.
• Naga Varun Dasari of IIT Bombay, India, is working with Prof. Marianne Winslett.
• Lyle Franklin of Ball State University is working with Prof. Danny Dig.
• Gabriel Alexandru Gyori of the Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania is working with Prof. Danny Dig.
• Kevin Hoff of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Dr. Masooda Bashir.
• Dong Wook Kim of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Dr. Rakesh Bobba.
• Branden Kroske of Broward College is working with Prof. Matthew Caesar.
• Christopher Maier of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Prof. Peter W. Sauer.
• Oliver Michel of the University of Vienna, Austria is working with Prof. Brighten Godfrey.
• Charlotte "Rose" Morris-Wright of Swarthmore College is working with Prof. Timothy W. Bretl.
• Zhengyu Qin of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is working with Prof. Gul Agha.
• Michael Rawson of the University of Florida is working with Prof. Klara Nahrstedt.
• Anushree Ringne of the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is working with Dr. Zbigniew T. Kalbarczyk.
• Andri Teneqexhi of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Prof. Nitin H. Vaidya.
• Alan Xia of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working with Prof. Marianne Winslett.
• Di Xu of Purdue University is working with Prof. Marianne Winslett.