SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCES CORNELL UNIVERSITY WILL RECEIVE NEARLY $2.5 MILLION IN FED FUNDING FOR COMPUTER ENGINEERING TO IMPROVE CYBER SECURITY
Federal Funds Will Be Used To Make Security Engineering Stronger, Easier, and Cheaper
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that Cornell University will receive $2,499,998 in federal grant funding from the National Science Foundation. Federal funds will be used to develop sophisticated cryptographic mechanisms in order to increase software security. Under this program, Cornell University will build more secure software systems using Viaduct and promote it through demos, workshops, and tutorials.
“If we are serious about remaining globally competitive, we must continue to invest in Universities like Cornell to research and develop new computer engineering techniques that will stop hackers in their tracks. The work coming out of Cornell will improve our nations cyber security and help foster technological innovations that will make us safer and more productive. This funding will allow our brightest minds to find solutions to current and future challenges,” said Senator Schumer.
“Cornell University is one of the most innovative institutions in the country and an ideal place for this federal investment,” said Senator Gillibrand. “These funds will help Cornell develop stronger safeguards to secure personal information from hackers. I will continue to support more federal funding for scientific research at our colleges and universities, so that more young people can be inspired to do research, test their ideas, and help make our communities better places to live.”
Federal funds will be used by Cornell University to develop software using a high-level programming language, and the Viaduct system will automatically introduce sophisticated cryptographic mechanisms as needed to make the software secure. Viaduct automatically compiles high-level protocols to primitive cryptographic building blocks, offering formal security guarantees in the form of machine-checkable security proofs. The project demonstrates end-to-end synthesis based on universal composability as a practical way to build secure systems.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense. With an annual budget of about $5.5 billion, it is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.
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