Why George Mason University?
(The following is taken from Dr. Qiang Zeng's recruiting advertisement)
- Ranking: Our CS department ranks 44th in the US. GMU is a top 10 public university for cybersecurity.
- Stipend: RA/TA >= $3,000/month (starting in Fall 2023). Tuition and health insurance are all covered.
- Safety: When you study abroad, safety is critical. GMU is ranked among the safest colleges.
- Living cost: You can rent a bedroom at $500-$700 per month.
- Dining: Buffet at $8/meal. Our campus dining is rated as one of the best in the US.
- Diversity: Our area (Fairfax, VA) is very diverse. Discrimination is not a concern here.
- Area: Fairfax has numerous international (Chinese, Indian, Korean, European...you name it) supermarkets and restaurants. As one of the richest counties in the US, it is home to 11 Fortune 500 headquarters. It is close to Washington DC, the Shenandoah National Park, and two big airports. Amazon's 2nd headquarter is in the adjacent area and Google investing big here. NSF, DARPA, CIA, The Pentagon, DoD, US Army, US Air Force, and Office of Naval Research are all near.
- Climate: Four distinct seasons with mild weather.
Why my lab?
- Research Areas: I am broadly interested in any topics related to software and systems security. Below are some topics that our lab focuses on:
- Binary code analysis and reverse engineering
- IoT security
- Mobile security
- Deep learning for Cybersecurity
- PhD Student Training: I spend a lot of time in advising PhD students. Each student has his/her own research project in the first year. I encourage and promote the passion for doing great research. I meet each student once per week. If they want, they can stop by my office anytime to discuss with me. Within only three (3) years, my first PhD student published two papers at top security conferences as the first author (CCS’20, MobiCom’19). He joined in my lab in Fall 2017 and graduated in Spring 2020 (publications: UbiComp’22, MobiSys’22, CCS’20, MobiCom’19, NDSS’19, RAID’19). Now, he is working at Microsoft as a Scientist.
- Future of Security Research: Cybersecurity jobs are in high demand. According to Fortune, in the U.S., there are about 1 million cybersecurity workers, but there are around 715,000 jobs yet to be filled. Thus, Security is a very promising area. The research of my lab has been published in prestigious security conferences and journals (such as CCS, NDSS and TDSC), software engineering conferences and journals (such as FSE and TSE), and mobile computing conferences and journals (such as MobiCom, MobiSys, UbiComp and TMC). I have served as a TPC member or session chair in many conferences, such as USENIX Security and NDSS.
Requirements for PhD study positions
- Degree: A degree in CS/EE/Math is required. Your undergraduate university should be ranked top-500 in the world. For example, for students from China, they should graduate from 985 or top 211 colleges.
- (Or) Research Experience: If your degree does not satisfy the requirement above, then research experience is expected, for instance, publishing a paper in a good CS conference, such as AsiaCCS, RAID, WiSec, DIMVA.
- English: GRE is not required. TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, or PTE will work. Please refer to https://www.gmu.edu/admissions-aid/apply-now/how-apply/international/english-proficiency-requirements. If you are exceptional in research, we can discuss the possibility of lowering the language requirement.
Application and deadlines
- Online Application: https://www.gmu.edu/admissions-aid
- Deadlines for Fall: If you submit the application by December 1, your case will be given full consideration for getting financial support; if you submit it by March 15, you still have a chance to get financial support, although it is lower.
- Deadlines for Spring: If you submit the application by August 15, your case will be given full consideration for getting financial support; if you submit it by October 15, you still have a chance to get financial support, although it is lower.
- Goals Statement: In your Goals Statement (aka, Personal Statement), it is critical to indicate your interest in working with me on Security, so I can pay special attention to your application.
- Contact: If your are interested, please send me an email (lluo4 AT gmu DOT edu) including your CV, English scores, transcripts, GPA and your ranking in the class.
Chinese/中文
为什么选择George Mason University?
(以下摘自Qiang Zeng老师的招生广告)
- 排名: 全美CS专业排名36. Cybersecurity 全美公校前10.
- 工资: >=$3,000每月 (Fall 2023开始). 免学费、带医疗保险.
- 安全: 出国留学, 安全很重要. GMU位列全美最安全校园之一.
- 生活成本: 独立卧室租金约$500-$700每月.
- 吃: $8每餐(all you can eat: 单独给你煎的omelet, 炒粉, 中国菜, 冰激淋, 50多种沙拉, n多甜点, 10多种饮料. 汉堡, pizza, 意大利面就不用说了). GMU食堂位列全美最优之一. 学校自己搞温室, 提供新鲜蔬菜.
- 文化多样: GMU位于弗吉利亚的Fairfax. 她是全美人口与文化多样性的代表地区. 种族歧视在这里没有土壤.
- 好地方: Fairfax有众多中餐厅和中国超市, 也有非常多日本、韩国、印度、欧洲饭店. 作为全美最富有的郡之一, Fairfax是11家Fortunue-500公司总部所在地. 她靠近Washington DC, 雪兰多国家公园, 以及两个大型机场 (可直飞中国). Amazon第二总部就在旁边; Google也在该地区开分部. 众多联邦机构 (比如NSF, DARPA, CIA, The Pentagon, US Army, US Air Force, and Office of Naval Research) 都在附近. 周末坐半个小时地铁, 去DC喝喝早茶, 逛逛博物馆, 吃吃米其林, 相当惬意. DC的博物馆多如繁星, 在国家自然与历史博物馆可以身临其境地体会《博物馆奇妙夜》中的奇幻，在国家美术馆可以一睹梵高、达·芬奇、莫奈等大师的真迹风采; 划重点: 免门票.
- 气候: 四季分明, 气候温和. 夏天不会太热, 冬天不会太冷.
为什么选择这个实验室?
George Mason University 的软件与系统安全实验室 (Software and Systems Security Lab) 是一个主张“做有趣的研究”、新颖与实用并重、充满自由研究氛围的实验室。
我于2022年加入George Mason University。加入GMU之前，我在南卡罗来纳大学 (University of South Carolina) 计算机系任教 (2017 - 2022)。我在宾夕法尼亚州立大学 (Penn State University) 获得博士学位, 在成都电子科技大学获得硕士学位，在西安电子科技大学获得学士学位。研究成果发表在计算机安全（CCS, NDSS, TDSC），软件工程（FSE, ICSE, TSE），移动计算（MobiCom, MobiSys, TMC）各大顶级会议和期刊上。
- 实验室研究方向：实验室研究方向注意把握学科前沿, 并充分鼓励学生探索自己感兴趣的新的安全课题, 比如：
- 二进制代码分析与逆向工程 (binary code analysis & reverse engineering)
- 物联网安全 (IoT security)
- 移动安全 (Mobile security)
- Deep learning for Cybersecurity
该实验室的代表工作包括 (1) 第一个将神经机器翻译（Neural Machine Translation）技术引入二进制代码分析中，已经引来广泛关注 (NDSS’19); (2) 第一个为千差万别的物联网 (IoT) 设备提供统一、安全、易用的认证和配对方法 (MobiCom’19, CCS’20); (3) 第一个提出利用病毒中常用的逻辑炸弹 (logic bomb) 用于保护手机应用程序 (TDSC)。
- 博士学生指导:该实验室的学生从博士第一学期就有属于自己、适合自己的项目，而不是做工程性的工作或者给其他学生打下手，因此学生的成长非常迅速。我把比较多的精力和指导投入到学生身上，因材施教帮助学生找到合适的问题，大量的时间和学生一起讨论解决方案，甚至一起调试代码。我的第一个博士生在短短3年的时间就以第一作者在顶级安全会议上发表了2篇文章 (CCS’20, MobiCom’19)。他2017年加入我们实验室，2020年博士毕业（论文: UbiComp’22, MobiSys’22, CCS’20, MobiCom’19, NDSS’19, RAID’19), 目前在Microsoft工作。我理解学生第一次写学术文章，因为没有经验，都有很多不懂的地方，不知道怎么写。所以学生的第一篇文章，基本都是我主要写，然后我会指导学生并讲解为什么这么写，让学生从这个过程中理解并成长。学生的文章，我都会一个字一个字改。
- 安全研究前景： 安全研究是目前就业市场最火热的方向之一, 毕业的学生在学术界和工业界都是供不应求. 根据Fortune, 全美有约 100万的安全职位, 而由于安全人才急缺, 其中超过70万个岗位还没招到人. 本实验室的研究成果发表在顶尖安全会议和期刊, 比如安全四大会议. 我在众多著名会议中担任程序委员会委员, 比如USENIX Security, NDSS.
同时，实验室的很多项目也结合了AI, Deep Learning (应用 AI/Deep learning 技术去解决安全的问题)。比如, (1) 我们是最早将 Neural Machine Translation 用于二进制代码分析; (2) 我们将神经网络用于设备认证，比如“谁拿起了那支枪?”。
博士招生要求
- 学位: 本科即可; 专业: CS/EE/Math. 985或较好的211大学本科.
- 研究经验(非必须): 如果学位条件不满足, 没有关系, 有研究经验也可以, 比如在较好的计算机会议或期刊发表论文.
- 语言要求: 不需要GRE. 托福, 雅思, Duolingo 或者PTE都可以. 具体要求请参见https://www.gmu.edu/admissions-aid/apply-now/how-apply/international/english-proficiency-requirements. 当然如果你在其他方面出类拔萃, 语言方面的要求也可以适当放松.
Application and deadlines
实验室研究经费充足, 常年招收有意从事安全研究的优秀博士生并提供全额奖学金。欢迎感兴趣的同学们发邮件联系。罗岚楠老师的联系方式是：lluo4 AT gmu DOT edu .- Online Application: https://www.gmu.edu/admissions-aid
- Deadlines for Fall: If you submit the application by December 1, your case will be given full consideration for getting financial support; if you submit it by March 15, you still have a chance to get financial support, although it is lower.
- Deadlines for Spring: If you submit the application by August 15, your case will be given full consideration for getting financial support; if you submit it by October 15, you still have a chance to get financial support, although it is lower.
- Goals Statement: In your Goals Statement (aka, Personal Statement), it is critical to indicate your interest in working with me on Security, so I can pay special attention to your application.
- Contact: If your are interested, please send me an email (lluo4 AT gmu DOT edu) including your CV, English scores, transcripts, GPA and your ranking in the class.
