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Search MenuREU Site: Secure Software Testing for Web and Mobile Applications: Research Experience for Undergraduates
ABSTRACT
Title: REU Site: Secure Software Testing for Web and Mobile Applications: Research Experience for Undergraduates
This project establishes an REU Site on the topic of secure software testing for web and mobile applications, at the University of North Texas. The project's intellectual merits are that it exposes students to an intense research experience that focuses on software testing with an emphasis on techniques that may help to increase security and reliability of web and mobile applications. The project's broader significance and importance are that it trains three diverse cohorts of ten students each in summers 2015, 2016, and 2017 to provide them with a supportive environment and research experience that encourages them to pursue graduate studies in Computer Science. The students are better prepared to enter the graduate school pipeline as they gain an understanding of basic research skills.
Students work in collaborative teams that explore research questions in areas such as test suite generation, test suite prioritization, test suite reduction, attack surface analysis, and sanitization validation techniques. Empirical studies examine the techniques in the context of web and mobile applications.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project established an REU Site on the topics of secure software testing for web and mobile applications that ran in summers 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. In terms of Intellectual Merit, students focused on techniques such as test generation, test suite prioritization, test suite reduction, attack surface analysis, and sanitization validation techniques. Students worked in collaborative environments to develop and evaluate hypotheses for these projects. Students contributed to empirical studies to examine the respective techniques in the domains of web and mobile applications. The project's Broader Impact is that we trained 33 students to work on research in a supportive environment to encourage them to pursue graduate studies in Computer Science. This helps our nation as we need to increase the pipeline of students who pursue advanced degrees in Computer Science. Indeed, the students are better prepared to enter the graduate school pipeline now that they have an understanding of basic research skills and a broader vision of how researchers in software testing and security are able to advance the state-of-the-art techniques to improve the quality and trustworthiness of software systems. Further, students developed better oral and written communication skills through their research experiences which is valuable for those who pursue graduate studies and/or enter the workforce.
Last Modified: 04/01/2019
Modified by: Renee Bryce
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