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SISMAT FAQs

The following represent some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the SISMAT program.  If you have others you'd like answered email us.

Q) Where is the best place to find information on the SISMAT program?

A) The website (http://www.ists.dartmouth.edu/events/sismat/) is, by far, the best location, but please feel free to contact ISTS by phone (603.646.0700), or email (info.ists@dartmouth.edu).

Q) Are all students guaranteed placement in an internship by the SISMAT program?

A) While the SISMAT program does its best to locate internships for all participating students, we cannot guarantee all will be placed. We will work with potential internship sponsors to identify good matches. In addition, we encourage students to try to locate their own internships as well as a fall back option.

Q) What are some examples of previous internship sponsors?

A) SISMAT students have interned in a wide variety of locations and at a mix of non-profits and in industry. Locations have included: Boston; Hanover, NH; Washington, DC; and New York, NY, among others. Sponsors have included: a financial services company, a hospital, college IT departments, a college information security research center, a forensics company, a small IT firm, a large government contractor, and other government and private organizations.

Q) What have been the typical costs and challenges associated with short-term housing in the vicinity of the internships?

A) There are always challenges in locating short-term housing. We try to give our students and internship sponsors plenty of lead-time to ease the process. We also ask the internship sponsors to make their resources (e.g., human resources departments) available to the students to try and locate housing. In some cases students have been able to work near home and commute. While the SISMAT program does its best to locate internships for all participating students, it cannot guarantee all will be placed. We do encourage students to try to locate their own internships as well as a fall back option and this could also ease the process of locating housing if the internship is near their home, or home institution. As a result, costs can vary widely, particularly depending on the area. We try to match students with organizations close to their home. Of course, sometimes that doesn't work out.

Q) Are there any companies/locations near my home/home institution where I could intern?

A) As noted above, locations have included: Boston; Hanover, NH; Washington, DC; and New York, NY, among others. We’re happy to hear any suggestions students and/or faculty mentors have for companies (or non-profits, government, etc.) in their home locations that might be a good fit.

Q) Who and how will the research project be evaluated? Are standards or scoring rubrics available? Are examples of past successfully completed projects available?

A) The research project itself is evaluated by the faculty mentor; our role is a support one (helping find or define the project, supplying advice, insight, papers, software or systems). We have not defined scoring rubrics as such.

Examples of projects include: 

• a survey of the process of intrusion recovery
• research on rootkit design
• survey of access control issues in medical settings
• a security policy language redesign that wraps SELinux policies
• x86 hacking to provide "armor" for variables and data structures

Q) Is more information available on program expectations for a student’s ability to code? For example, which language(s) and integrated development environments (IDEs) are required or recommended?

A) We expect that students (rising juniors and seniors) will have had most of the CS core (i.e., an introduction to programming, data structures, discrete math, programming in the large, operating systems or networks). Students who have some basic familiarity with C have a good head start, but we also do some exercises in Java. Knowledge of the Linux command line, gcc, make, and cvs are also useful. However, being a “code wizard” is not a requirement for the seminar. Much of it actually covers many non-programming security issues (PKI, security management, etc).

Q) How much coding is required?

A) We value the innate ability to creatively question trust assumptions in systems more than superior coding skills. There are a couple of exercises/labs that require some code writing and code analysis in gdb and IDAPro, but as this involves x86 assembly, everyone should be on equal footing. Most lab exercises are joint, not individual, so we tend to pair weaker programmers with stronger ones for those cases.

Q) Do program participants receive any academic credit for the experience?

A) Although Dartmouth doesn't give any academic credit for the SISMAT program, it is our intent that the students should receive some type of credit, either for the internship or the mentored research project. Our working assumption is that the students’ institutions can provide such credit. For example, we know of one school that has participated that has four pre-existing courses that can serve in this area: Internship 1 and 2, Mentored Research & Presentation, and Independent Study. Students can arrange with their faculty adviser to register for these courses either during the summer or the following fall or spring semesters.  We see our role as not trying to impose constraints here, but leave the student and faculty member free to make the best arrangements within the rules of their home institution.

Q) Can foreign nationals apply to the SISMAT program?

A) All may apply. We have had non-US citizens participate in the past.

Q) Can graduate students apply to the SISMAT program?

A) We are specifically looking for applications from rising juniors and seniors, but will consider graduate students if all slots are not filled. Please keep in mind that the program is specifically designed for and targeted at undergraduates (e.g., internship, research project) and undergraduate institutions.

Q) Are the faculty mentors required to attend the full two-week course with their student(s)?

A) Faculty mentors are not supposed to attend the full two-week intensive course. In past years, we have held a faculty mentor weekend the middle weekend of the course when mentors are invited to come to Dartmouth to discuss student progress and best means for educating students about security. We hope to do so again in the future, or offer a faculty workshop, but we are not able to do so this year, at this time.

Q) What should a student selected for the program bring to campus for the two-week course?

A) For the academics, the student should bring a laptop and a means of taking notes that is comfortable to the student. The student should consider bringing leisure time activities as well (e.g., music, movies, games, etc.). Dartmouth is located in a region with many opportunities for outdoor activities, so clothing/gear for hiking, fishing, swimming, etc. should be considered.

Q) Is there any read-ahead material, or any preparation work you would recommend?

A) The SISMAT faculty leaders will give each accepted student a reading list and tutorial/reference material for background to glance over before the seminar.