USC Information Sciences Institute, Google, & Microsoft Research Sponsor GREPSEC 2 – An NSF and CRA-W/CDC Supported Workshop for Women & Underrepresented Groups interested in Computer Security Research
The second GREPSEC workshop was recently held in San Jose, California, May 16-17, at The Sainte Claire Hotel. The event was very successful and included forty students from thirty universities. The day-and-a-half workshop preceded the annual IEEE S&P (Security and Privacy) Symposium. Many of the GREPSEC students also attended S&P and in addition to their GREPSEC travel grant several received an S&P travel grant too. The organizers reported that it was great to see so many young women participating in S&P.
The first GREPSEC workshop was in 2013, and this second workshop, like the first, was dedicated to attracting beginning researchers and showing them the wide spectrum of areas that need attention.
At the workshop there were invited speakers, from both academia and industry, considered leaders in their particular field within computer science. They shared with the students their educational and career path experiences, and the areas that need attention in the security and privacy space. The relaxed nature of the workshop gave students time to talk informally with the speakers and ask engaging questions.
Terry Benzel, one of the GREPSEC organizers, gave a presentation on How do you know you've got it right? Testbeds for Security. She introduced the DETER Project and discussed the Cybersecurity Experimentation of the Future Roadmap.
The networking opportunity of the workshop was invaluable. All attendees received a participants’ handbook containing bios and contact information to help ensure that the experience continues well beyond GREPSEC; forging lasting friendships, collaborations, and continued mentoring.
For further information on GREPSEC and its mission, please visit:
