Workshop description:

There are many contributing factors to one’s long-term career success, e.g., perseverance, persistence, and confidence. However, anyone lacking a sense of belonging might struggle to keep up in this fiercely competitive cybersecurity research field and be discouraged. This new NSF-sponsored iMentor Workshop aims to orient our goals towards a fundamental cause -- nurturing the long-term research interest and commitment in young underrepresented researchers.

iMentor focuses squarely on attracting, mentoring, and career advising early-stage graduate students from underrepresented communities who want to pursue a career in computer security. Being virtually co-located with the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM CCS) 2020, the workshop provides an opportunity for attendees to also participate in the main conference and benefit from it. ACM CCS is a top-tier venue for the quick and wide dissemination of cutting-edge research results in computer and communications security.

The workshop is specifically geared toward the participation of early-stage graduate students who are females or other underrepresented minorities in cybersecurity. Selected iMentor participants, i.e., the iMentor 2020 cohort, will have an opportunity to be mentored one-on-one by senior graduate students, faculty, and researchers and engineers from industry during the workshop and the main ACM CCS conference.

If you would like to join the iMentor 2020 cohort, please visit the Call for Student Mentees page.