Matthew Crossman
Matthew Crossman: Research on cybersecurity
Posted Friday, May 8, 2015
Created by Mary Avery 1.6.2015
Computer engineering major Matthew Crossman '15 has focused on computer system security, or cybersecurity.
‌‌‌The Taunton resident has received two research grants from UMass Dartmouth's Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR). His work has also been sponsored by the UMass President's Office for Cybersecurity Curriculum Initiation Funding for 2014-2015.
He'll pursue his master's in computer engineering here at UMass Dartmouth, and then plans to work in the cybersecurity field.
Doing research opens doors
Matthew's OUR research focused on how users are authenticated when logging into a system using a smart card or fingerprint readers. A graduate of Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School, he's developing a curriculum for vocational school students working with smartcard readers.
"Doing research has definitely opened up a lot of doors," he said, adding that he hopes to encourage other vocational school students to consider higher education.
Conference best paper: technologies for homeland security
Matthew—with his faculty advisor Prof. Hong Liu—also recently won the Conference Best Paper at the 2015 IEEE International Symposium on Technologies for Homeland Security: the conference's highest award, in a competitive field with security technology professionals.
Their "Study of Authentication with IoT Testbed" is about the Internet of Things (IoT), which promises to connect potentially everything to the Internet, from home appliances to key components of the nation's critical infrastructure. Matthew and Prof. Liu describe a laboratory test environment for analyzing the security of smart devices, offering a way to experiment with real attacks in a controlled environment.
Matthew plans to continue his studies in the College of Engineering's 4+1 master's program in computer engineering.
"Then, I foresee myself working in the cybersecurity field, specifically at a company that specializes in authentication such as RSA (a subdivision of EMC), Symantec, or Duo Security," he said. "I've thought about possible plans to go for a doctorate in computer engineering or computer science, but that is a long-term plan, with my short-term plan being to get a job in the industry."
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
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