Tennessee Tech University Department of Computer Science Blog

(This post was authored by Dr. Ambareen Siraj)

For me, the sea to cross has been changing at various stages of my life – but my determination has not.

When I came to this great country which has been my home for 20 years, the sea was graduate school at Mississippi State. I came from a different country (Bangladesh), different language (Bengali), different undergraduate degree (Applied Physics and Electronics), and with a family (husband Sheikh Ghafoor and a 2 year old son). Why did I move to CS from Physics? Well, I worked with computers during my undergraduate thesis; I guess my “bossy” personality loved the fact that you can tell a machine exactly what to do, and it will do it! Well, as we all know now, computers of today can think ahead of men!

Back to my story of growing up. My first semester at graduate school, I worked for an insect researcher in Agricultural Research and analyzed insects with software after my classes. My husband would keep our toddler busy with trees and flags flying high in the park while I did my study chores. Later, I started working as a Teaching Assistant and graded C++ data structures programs to pay for grad school.  After sometime, I took the first class ever offered in Computer Security in Mississippi State (it was the same case with many schools back then) by one of the pioneers in CyberSecurity Education, Dr. Rayford Vaughn. I was hooked!  There was no looking back. I found what I loved, and I started working in the field as a Research Assistant for Dr. Vaughn. The best lesson that I learned from him was the power of a “pat on the back”.

Personally, what I learned most from my experience in graduate school is that you never give up. Never! It is very easy to give up and at times, seems like the only logical choice. But don’t! You have to hang on…. tight… with your teeth engraved into the flesh of hardship, and you keep pushing … little by little… trust me…you will get there… you will cross the sea. Whether it is a class assignment, project, quiz/exam, small/big- ask yourself, have I done all that I could considering my current situation? If you have invested 100% of your effort that you could possibly have in your current situation, then it is good enough. If not, get to it again until it is.

I started my tenure track faculty career at Tech 10.5 years back with a two week old daughter. I taught 3 classes my 1^st semester. One of these classes was a security class that had 7 students in it. The sea in front of me was building a faculty profile to get tenured after 5 years. Back then, for me it was all about surviving the waves. I stayed up many nights with a new born baby in my lap and prepared for class lectures in the morning and cried and then cried some more. But, never missed a lecture. With support from my family, I did not drown. When we got stronger (my baby and I), I started looking beyond teaching classes.

I always believed Informal education (outside classroom) is as important as formal education in classrooms, especially in dynamic fields like Computer Science and Cybersecurity. Things change so much in this field, it is hard to keep up. While we spend more time teaching students about rules, you learn the tools mostly from informal education. For example, consider student club training activities, self-training, online learning, etc. We (my students and I) created a Cybersecurity club for students in 2013 just to help with this. I am so proud to see that our students have done (and continue to do) an excellent job at providing opportunities for informal education through various club activities. If you have not yet been to one, please attend any Cyber Eagles meetings and you will find that there are others like you, whether you are someone with no clue whatsoever at that point, or someone who knows what they are doing and where they are heading. You will find that Cyber Eagles in a community for all – a circle of friends.

My research in Cybersecurity started with Intrusion Detection (my master’s thesis) and then situational awareness (my doctoral thesis). The general area of my research is around intrusion detection and smart grid security. I am not very focused on one particular area of research because my research tends to be more student interest oriented. My research workhorses are students, and therefore, I do not want them to spend hours and hours of their attention on something that is more important to me than them. As long as I have some interest (and presumable expertise) in the subject matter, I will go along in their journeys to guide them along the way. Therefore, as my research profile will tell you, I am not an “expert” on one area but have ventured into many research paths with my students. Good or bad, that’s just me.

The issue of diversity is very close to my heart. It is painful for me to see that women, who have so much to offer in terms of intellectual capability and diverse perspectives,  are so much underrepresented in our field (computing: 25%, cybersecurity: 11%) when there are abundance of opportunities. With Dr. Kosa, we started Tennessee Celebration of Women in Computing, which later became Southeast Women in Computing Conference in partnership with Georgia Tech. We also started the NCWIT Aspiration Award in Tennessee for high school girls. We also started the Renaissance Engineering Spectrum Award in the College of Engineering. Along the same lines, in 2014, I founded the National Women in Cybersecurity Conference that has become much more than what I had ever anticipated.  Started as an annual conference, WiCyS is a community of engagement, encouragement and support for women in cybersecurity all across the United States.

We are in a field (computing/cybersecurity) that has tremendous pipeline problem. To address this pipeline, we have to invest in outreach. We must reach out to students and teachers at the secondary level schools to get more students interested in computing/cybersecurity; to post-secondary students and teachers to get them more involved into cybersecurity; to more underrepresented groups to get them more aware of cybersecurity opportunities. These are some of the projects at the Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center (CEROC). You can find out more http://www.tntech.edu/ceroc.

I grew up as the extremely introverted skinny kid with two braids and big glasses who always sat at the back of the class. I still do and guess what? I then chose a profession where I get to stand in front of dozens of eyes forced to stare at me for hours (not an enjoyable situation for both parties, I am sure). Honestly, I became a professor for the wrong reason. My father (Siraj) always wanted to be one so I became Dr. Siraj for him. However, I am so glad that I did and found you! I learn more from you than you know, and I enjoy being around you.

With help from my family (who continues to make sacrifices and adjustments to accommodate my work), my colleagues (have you noticed how wonderful they all are!), my staff (who are amazingly supportive), I work extremely hard every day so that more boats, more ropes, more swimming skills can be brought to CS students – should you need any to cross the sea the front of you.

I hope that you all will find strength in humanity and yourself to cross whatever is impending your journey ahead of you. If I can be of any help, you know where to find me.