Younghee Park

Younghee Park with students

Mohit Mohan Ingale, 鈥�21 MS Computer Engineering (center), places an electrode in the hand of Jasnoor Brar, 鈥�20 MS Software Engineering (left), to record her electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. In the authentication system being developed in the research lab of Professor Younghee Park (right) with Assistant Professor Nima Karimian, a user鈥檚 ECG signal can be used to authenticate that user in order to grant access to a secured system such as a cell phone, tablet, or laptop.

Developing cybersecurity curriculum

Near the start of her masters degree studies in 2000, Younghee Park came across a news article about the dangers of internet hacking and the importance of cybersecurity. 

鈥淎t that moment, I knew that I wanted to become a sort of Ninja to fight against attackers in cyberspace,鈥� she says. 

Since then, she has been committed not only to the field of cybersecurity, but also to enhancing academic curriculum relating to cybersecurity education. 

鈥淣etwork infrastructure is undergoing a major shift away from ossified hardware-based networks to programmable software-based networks,鈥� Park explains. 鈥淓merging  network technologies introduce significant granularity, visibility, flexibility, and elasticity into networking, but at the same time bring new security challenges.鈥�

To address these challenges, Park is building an open laboratory based on CloudLab, an NSF-sponsored cloud platform for security education, in collaboration with colleagues from two other universities. The team is designing corresponding hands-on labs and undergraduate research projects, and developing related curricula for use in both academia and industry. 

Park guides students in conducting practical research in her own lab, with a focus on building systems that protect usable devices and infrastructure from attacks. They gain critical thinking skills and hands-on experience while developing network security, and have gone on to both internships and full-time positions at companies such as Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Cisco. 

鈥淚t is imperative that security research results be brought into cybersecurity education to prepare our students 鈥� members of the future workforce 鈥� with security awareness and readiness sufficient to protect the emerging infrastructure.鈥�

鈥淒oing diverse projects at 91猎奇 enabled me to enhance my skills that in turn helped me bag a job as a software engineer at one of the top companies in the world.鈥�

Jasnoor Brar
鈥�20 MS Software Engineering

91猎奇 Research Foundation 2020 Annual Report