Research motivation

This post is more of a note-to-self, I’ll keep it here to remind me of what I was like during my Ph.D.

The graduate office at my university asked me to clarify what I meant on my progress report when I said that “my career goals are driven by societal impact”. This is what I wrote back:

Indeed my career goals since I can remember were shaped by trying to quantify the impact of my work to society. My research and interests revolve around the security of embedded systems, with a focus (but not limited to) systems used in critical infrastructure. Now more than ever, the dangers and aggressive integration of the “cyber realm” in our everyday lives are evident. Watch the news or pick up a newspaper on any given day, and chances are there’s going to be a piece on “the latest security breach”, headlines reading “HACKED!”, or something similar. We are at point in history where cyber attacks have managed to raise suspicions of having manipulated the [U.S.] election system. Ironically, we are also at the point where we willingly invite all and more embedded devices in our everyday lives (smart watches, smart fridges, smart [insert-word-here]), trying to build the so-called Internet-of-Things. The effects of weak security mechanisms on embedded devices could be devastating for our personal privacy, but the dangers don’t stop there. For embedded devices that are deployed in critical infrastructure, such as systems that provide us with power, water, food, etc., the stakes are much higher.

To that end, my research, and extrapolating my current trajectory, my future career, aims to investigate the security of these devices in an effort to understand weak points, raise awareness about them and propose ways to mitigate these vulnerabilities. With my current point of view, I believe this path is an effective way for me to maximize my usefulness and leverage my skills towards serving and contributing to society.

Favorite book in my library: George Orwell’s 1984.