This page lays out the process that the Tiger Teams competition follows each year.
Seminar — Fall
The kick-off event for the competition is the CS 8001 UST seminar. This is a one-hour, pass/fail seminar that will introduce interested students to usable security as an area of research, and provide them with the resources needed to put together a winning proposal.
The seminar itself will consist largely of readings and external speakers, especially from sponsoring companies. As a side bonus of taking the seminar, you’ll get a chance to meet and interact with industry leaders from our sponsor companies. This is a great opportunity to interact with some of the top companies in the field who are deeply interested in usable security as a research topic.
While attending the seminar is not necessary in order to submit a Tiger Team proposal, it is strongly recommended. If you’re not familiar with the work that’s already been done in this area, you won’t be able to propose a novel project. Likewise, during the seminar, you’ll get a chance to hear about possible project ideas from faculty and industry leaders, many of whom will participate in the judging process.
Call for Proposals — December
In December the official call for proposals will go out, along with details on the format in which proposals should be submitted (for reference, last year we requested three-page proposals).
Judging — December
Judging of proposals will be done by a panel of Georgia Tech faculty as well as industry experts. Winners will be announced in December.
Execution of Research Projects
Selected projects will commence in January with the Spring semester. We plan to support teams for two semesters of work (either Spring+Summer or Spring+Fall). Selected teams will receive regular mentoring from faculty and industry advisors.
For each of the last two years we selected three teams (six students total) for GRA support, so the Tiger Teams process is a great way to get paid (and get free tuition!) to work on a compelling project that you define!
