SENDLAB adds to Stevens' network security expertise

Our personal affairs and privacy, as well as public security, are critically vulnerable to unauthorized access and disruption in an increasingly networked world. Threats to cybersecurity include criminal and espionage activities that are perpetrated remotely and difficult to trace. At Stevens Institute of Technology, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the need for superior long-term defenses is being answered with sophisticated research.

The Secure Network Design Lab (SENDLAB) is the latest addition to Stevens' security expertise. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Sumit Ghosh, the Hattrick Professor of Information Systems Engineering, the lab promises to advance Stevens' effectiveness and prominence in the area of secure wireline and wireless network design.

"The mission of SENDLAB," says Ghosh, "is to conduct leading-edge research in secure network design for the future. The emphasis is high-performance, high-degree-of-trust, sophisticated-intrusion and attack-resistant architecture, amenable to effective network management, and consistent with the requirements of law enforcement. In this regard, a major collaborator with the lab on network security issues will be the U.S. Department of Justice.

"A unique strength of the SENDLAB," Ghosh elaborates, "will be our ability to rapidly prototype new secure network systems in both software and hardware dimensions."

Integral to SENDLAB will be a modeling and simulation test-bed, used to design, test and analyze new network systems. "The test-bed can also be used as a training facility for the lab's partners in law enforcement and defense," says Ghosh.

Sandia National Labs of Albuquerque, N.M., will continue to sponsor research in the area of distributed intrusion detection.

Founded on the belief that good research and teaching go hand-in-hand, SENDLAB will continue to play a key role in developing new educational programs. While graduate certificate programs in secure network system design and networked information systems have been launched, a full master's degree in networked information systems is under development. Key concepts will be incorporated into the undergraduate computer-engineering program.

SENDLAB will be a collaborator in the Cybersecurity Center, an interdisciplinary project that is slated to debut at Stevens in late 2002.

Recently of Arizona State University, Ghosh obtained his M.S. and doctoral degrees at Stanford University in California. For more information on his extensive career in academia and industry, as well as brief summaries of his recently authored and co-authored books on networking, network security and other topics, please visit his home page at www.stevens.edu/~sghosh2.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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