#5 State of Your Research Prospectus (freewrite, 10 minutes)

My thinking has come very far just from the start of the topic. In the beginning I knew I wanted to do something related to Biometrics, as that has always interested me since the day that Professor Heishman introduced it to the class. From this fairly vague topic I had to then research into some of the more narrow topics within this field. I had previous knowledge of security and privacy being problems with this system, and thought that that would be a very manageable topic considering these methods are closing in on the general population fast, and they will more than likely be implemented in most place within the nextseveral years. Knowing that security and privacy are problems, I started hypothesizing different questions regarding that subject, making sure to keep on that single narrow subject. With this I found that the question should involve some sort of new "method" for guarding the general public against the security and privacy concerns of biometrics, after all, almost all Computer Science journals that I have read propose some sort of alternative method that gets the job done in a much more efficient way. From this question it was fairly easy to devise the problem since the question was initially derived from a problem that the population was having. Using the question the problem was very straightforward and concerned how people felt towards the security and privacy problems and how those people can be put at risk by using biometrics.


Although I haven't really started the review of the literature, I feel this won't be a very hard part. Most of the general information concerning biometrics is widely available, and in fact I have already found many sources using the keywords "Biometrics & Privacy" which will help me in my methodological literature review. In developing my literature review, I have learned to make the subject as broad as possible so that the audience will be able to tell that I have "done my homework" concerning the topic at hand. With this in mind I plan to take a thematic approach of the methods used in biometrics, jumping around to the most prominent topics in biometrics by explaining how some of the more famous theories have been derived and are used in everyday biometrics.

#3 (this is not a freewrite) Types of Writing in your Field (150-250 words

The vast majority of Computer Science research involves problem solving and analysis types of work.  The majority of writing that a programmer does will be revolving around coding documentation which clearly explains the contents and activities found within a program.  Although many parts of the documentation process are short, some coding documentation can be very dense with the much larger systems, meaning that documentation of this type involves very technical writing skills.  When working on separate projects, the type of writing may involve a more methodological approach as many software teams have implemented certain software engineering development methods which involve rigorous requirement writing which inhances the overall understanding of a soon-to-be made system.  For researchers in the field, the writing consists (off the top of my head) of quite a bit of theoretical things such as algorithms and models.  There are plenty of ways to get everything done now, but researchers will always be looking for the next best method which allows a new, hopefully faster and more efficient way of completing the same things.

#2 What are your strengths? (freewrite, 10 minutes)

For the most part, I beleive that my main strenght that I will bring to my future career is my ability to work with a group. Although most people see programmers as lonely beings that just sit in their offices all day, it really is quite different from that. In most settings the programmers need to coordinate with many other people that are together as a single team. Most programming projects that you do in the real world are large, and need much more than one person working on them, and I believe that I would thrive in this situation. I really enjoy working with others on projects because it allows everyone to bounce ideas off of each other, meaning that everyone gets to learn completely new ideas and methods of doing things while the projects are done in a much better manner because of this.


Another strength that I will bring to my future career is persistence. Although it is quite hard to be persistent in college, I still manage to be persistent until I finish absolutely everything. Most of the time I like to do things in one grouping, and rarely do I like to stop and start again because i feel that it is much easier to get off track in this situation. This would greatly help in my future career as it will help my employer to get exactly what they want, a finished product. My employer will be able to count on my in any situation as I can guarantee that I will work my absolute hardest until I finish the task at hand.


I dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymroe I dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymore i dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymore I dont know what to write about anymore.


Another skill that I feel will be helpful in my future career would be the knowledge of the technical abilities that many Computer Science majors lack. Through most of the classes here at Mason, I have mostly learned things that will never come to help us in the real world. Luckily, some of the things I have learned will help me emensly when it comes to joining the workforce. Things like methodologies into the way that computer programmers get things done will really help, and it will better allow me to fit into any workplace that I am able to get into. Not only their methodologies, but the different methods of programming and the insight behind this will really help me in my career. Not only have I learned how to manipulate the programming code to work, but I am not starting to learn the methods of coding which would better suit a group environment.

#1 Researching/Writing Goals and Aspirations (freewrite, 10 minutes)

My goals as a writer and researcher in ENGL 302 this term is to be sufficient enough to do well in the class. I really don't mind writing, or researching for that matter, but with this class it seems that the items that we have to do are not spelled out very clearly. I have really tried to email the professor about this and it seems that they take days to answer, most of the time meaning that wastes the time that I actually do have to do an assignment. It hasn't been bad so far, but recently we have had to do a project introduction and this coming week we have a literature review. This, unfortunately, is all that I know about the assignment, neither of them come with any description or instruction as to what I should actually be doing with the graded work. Like I said, I don't mind writing, and I'm sure that I'll have to do it much more over the next year and a half until I graduate. Hopefully the assignments that I have them will be much more precise than these, but I should be able to work my way around it either way. For my future career goals I am completely positive that I will have to write at least a little bit. Working as a programmer I am almost assured to have to do documentation for customers regarding products that I will be working on or plan to work on. Although this isn't like the normal college essay, we have already been taught how to do this in one of the earlier Computer Science classes, and it logically comes fairly easy to me. For myself personally, I really wouldn't mind to take up a blog in my free time. I doubt I would ever get anyone to follow it, but it still is pretty fun to free your mind of all of those thoughts that were holding you back. Other than that, I think that I would really enjoy research topics at the graduate level, once I actually have enough knowledge to do them. At the moment it feels like most people do not have enough information in their major to actually divulge those deep research topics that have yet to be uncovered. Hopefully after graduating and finishing up the required classes I will have a firmer grip on those topics and be able to uncover topics that lead to unchartered research topics. I know that most research work is done with one or more people as well, and think that I would actually flourish in this environment as everyone would be able to bounce ideas against each other. It seems to me that the topic of research on its own requires some sort of building and experimentation, and that sort of goes back to the topic of students not having enough experience to complete a well thought out uncovered research essay. I feel that the topics would be much better if the students were able to actually construct, design, and implement some of the things that their research has to offer.

Refined Research Problem Statement

(*) Introduce the issue to be studied.


As issues of security are starting to get greater and greater, the general public is really starting to see a gradual shift in the methods of security.  One of the main methods that we are shifting our paradigm to is Biometrics, the way we uniquely identify humans based on physical or behavioral traits.  It seems like this issue would be just as foolproof as the normal password and PIN security method, but in reality it has just as many vulnerabilities and pitfalls.

(*) Introduce to background of the research area. 


Now that the massive shift to biometrics is taking place, many people are finding that the biometric data given to these security machines can be compromised against peoples liking.  Not only are there ways for attackers to gain access and to duplicate some of your biometric data, the companies or agencies that actually choose to implement the security methods can use your own biometric data against you.  Some biometric methods are capable of telling your sex, skin color, race, and even sometimes your thoughts.  This opens up the capabilities for the company, or even someone else with the capabilities, to use that data against your will.

(*) State the key issue, the overall research problem, specific research question/s.  There may be 1-3 separate questions connected to research problem area. Should be formulated in a very clear language in a form of a question.  


Although Biometrics seems fine to most people outside of the Computer Science field, many people are finding plenty of issues with the new methods which biometrics entails.  The largest issue with the biometric method would be the privacy concerns found with the use of gathered biometric data.


I am studying the advancement of biometrics with respect to the privacy of the individuals who use the system because I want to find out how the entities that implement these systems can use the biometric data against the user in order to help the user understand how their privacy is being violated and what new things can be done to fix the problem.


(*) Statement of relevance to the field. Define your audience of experts.


Since the advancement of biometrics is continuing, the key issues found within this topic will only grow worse.  By acknowledging the issues, the Computer Science field will be able to better serve the general public instead of merely pleasing everyone in the technology field.  By solving this problems now instead of later, we will be able to truly find a better method of security, be it in biometrics or not, and in the end solving this problem of privacy within the biometrics field will revolution both security and technology.  


The audience of experts for this topic would be biometric, security, and human-computer interaction experts.  Almost every topic in Computer Science correlates to biometrics in some form or fashion, so almost any scholarly being in the Computer Science field would find this problem and solution interesting.

(*) Introduce your proposed methods of study, in brief, if you can at this time.


A general proposal of my study methods would be primarily based on others research since I am unable to design my own biometric systems.  It would be best to decipher scholarly articles to search for methods that would be relevant to the privacy and advancement of biometrics.  If methods of this type can be merged into a singular method, the effect may be strong enough to fix the problem.

(*) Introduce limitations of the study, if you can at this time.


Although it will be easy to find sources regarding the topics that are already designed and being implemented, the limitation begins at the design of new systems.  I have had a wealth of experience in my college career, but it isn't at the point that I can go out and design a new biometric system to solve this problem.

(*) Note scholarly publications (1-3 publications, by title) where you might be able to publish the resulting paper you would write.


Security & Privacy Magazine, IEEE 
Journal of the ACM
Computer Law and Security Review

Bibliography

[1] A. Squicciarini and E. Bertino, "Privacy Preserving Multi-Factor Authentication with Biometrics,"Identity, 2006, pp. 63-71.


[2] A.M. Froomkin, "The Death of Privacy?," Stanford Law Review, vol. 52, 2000, pp. 1461-1543.


[3] D. Bala, "Biometrics and information security," Kennesaw, Georgia: ACM, 2008, pp. 64-66.


[4] J. Woodward, "Biometrics: privacy's foe or privacy's friend?," Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 85, 1997, pp. 1480-1492.


[5] S. Prabhakar, S. Pankanti, and A. Jain, "Biometric recognition: security and privacy concerns,"Security & Privacy, IEEE, vol. 1, 2003, pp. 33-42.


[6] S. Cimato, M. Gamassi, V. Piuri, R. Sassi, and F. Scotti, "Privacy-Aware Biometrics: Design and Implementation of a Multimodal Verification System," 2008, pp. 130-139.

#5 Learning Styles (freewrite, 10 minutes)

As I said in my introduction, both the quiz, and the readings seemed to correlate to give me the Logical-Mathematical preferred learning style. During class I love to set and read slides, I think its much easier to capture the information in that way. I really feel that I need time to capture the information so that I can take really detailed, almost verbatum notes. After I finish these notes I usually go back and study quite hard before a test, and for the most part I have always done fine. Other than notes, I can usually handle when teachers write, or do lectures on the white-boards. I can usually keep up with them in this manner, but sometimes when they bust out the diagrams or drawings I am forced to pull out the notebook to jot them down. More often than not I try to take all of my notes on the computer. I feel that I am completely organized when I use that method of note-taking, whereas with paper I just feel inefficient as writing is generally much slower than typing.


One problem I have in classes, particularly this semester, is that all of my teachers will teach from powerpoint presentations, which I normally would cherish, but this semester EVERY professor I have seems to fly through them. Instead of facilitating my learning ability, flying through slides only causes me to try and cram the information the teacher is feeding me, and most of the time I end up falling behind while the professor rushes to the next slide. Other than not learning quite up to par, the teachers just seem to love throwing information at us, and by flying through the slides it allows the teachers to cover well up to 3 chapters per week which seems overwhelming to most.


In my Computer Science major, I do sometimes get a chance to work as a group, and generally I do very well with this type of setting as long as everyone is willing to be a part of the team and do their share of work. I think I probably do work better with a team because it allows everyone to be a check for the work, and other than that it allows everyone to bounce ideas back and forth. Rather than creating a single method for designing and implementing a system, this method of bouncing ideas back and forth allows us to better understand every available method, thus allowing us to learn new, better things.


I find that in math classes, where slides are not available, that just copying what the professor is writing on the board verbatim is the best method. This guarantees that when I go back to study I will have every available resource and be able to complete the problems much in the same way the professor would.

#3 (this is not a freewrite) - Survey of Current Topics in Your Field (research and brainstorm)

Biometrics
As security is a pressing concern in society, more Computer Scientists are quickly trying to find a way to solve the problems of security in many areas.  Besides the usual password, which can be easily stolen if wanted, the new methods concern unique identifying measurements of our bodies that act as our "passwords".  Many people have known about the standard fingerprint used by the police, but now the field has started to integrate this biometrics technology into many of the laptops that are being sold around the world.  If you're lucky enough to have one of these laptops, you know that instead of entering your password at prompts, this feature allows you to just slide your finger across a small scanner on your laptop.  The field of biometrics happens to go well over this topic though, especially as many people were trying to create copies of others fingerprints, thus making the method unsafe just like regular passwords.  One other topic of interest would be eye scanners.  Just like our fingerprints, the irises in our eyes are completely identical from person to person, even the irises on a single human are different from one another.  This makes it a great system of security because your irises are one thing on your body that would be fairly hard to copy.  We usually see this type of security software in the futuristic movies and shows, but this once futuristic technique is very close to becoming a reality.

Now that the use of biometrics is becoming more widespread, the threats against this type of security technique are finally showing themselves.  Yes, it may be hard to reproduce someones iris, but if someone manages to steal this image, there really isn't any way to magically change your iris to a new uniquely identifiable iris.  This scenario has paved the way for more, unusual types of storage methods which involve hashing and image processing which allows the actual image to be hidden and only shown in its processed form.

Open-Source Software 
If you aren't a Computer Science major, chances are you have never heard of open-source software.  Most of us are trained to use windows, and a small percentage of us are trained to use Mac's, but did you know that there is a third contender in this operating systems race?  It is called Linux, and was derived from Unix a while ago as a free operating system alternative to both Windows and Mac.  By free, I mean absolutely free.  If you are knowledgeable enough to tweak the code found in the Linux system, you can even design your own free software systems that model Linux.  Along with this operating system comes thousands upon thousands of free applications.  Linux has been lucky enough to morph into a complete operating system, and by that I mean that you can do everything in Linux that you would ever dream of doing in Windows and more!  The applications that are available for Linux mimic most software on Windows, and most of them even allow you more freedom if you're willing to learn a few things.

Luckily Linux is finally starting to become mainstream as it morphs into an easier system to use for those people that don't want to learn the basic commands for Linux systems.  Dell and other personal computer providers have started to ship computers with the offer of having Linux pre-installed, showing just how acceptable this alternative operating system is.  It has even become so mainstream recently that some K-12 school have decided to install Linux on their schools computers.  It allows them to save so much money over the pricey Windows operating systems, allowing them to focus on better things for our youth.

Software Engineering
As many software companies are growing bigger and releasing bigger software, the theory of software engineering is starting to take a real hold.  Instead of flailing around trying to finish a piece of software, the idea behind software engineering is that you will choose a design method to follow during the entire process.  This allows companies to be more efficient with their software releases and to be more impermeable to many software design flaws.  These methods make sure that adequate processes are taken throughout the course of the software design process, thus reducing the chances for failure at the end of the design phase.  Not only does this help the customers with more reliable, efficient software, but this allows the companies to be much more efficient with the way that they design software.  Most of the processes are designed to allow the software companies to fail early if they are going to fail at all, that way that precious money can be saved.  If a company is a month from a major release and they realize that the software is horrible because of their design process, that company will lose a plethora in money just trying to restart or revive the project.  All of this may seem irrelevant or unneeded for small groups working on small software packages, but anyone that does any process, regardless of a Computer Science major or not, uses the processes found in Software Engineering.

#2 What Are You Passionate About? (freewrite, 10 minutes)

I can honestly say that I really love my major, even with all the work it involves and all the fun things that it takes away from me.  I am most passionate about anything that has to do with computers, at least everything that I have gotten into so far.  I really like the programming aspect of computer science, and would say that I am rather passionate about having a job in the programming sector in the near future.  The theoretical or mathy type of classes that we are required to take are less of an enjoyment, but even those types of classes are becoming more fun.  I am most happy when I am able to produce things that work, and are of use to the general public.  Even though we haven't really gotten a chance to do this type of work in classwork, I find that my work process with projects and other labs would be ideal for the workplace, and I think they would be very easy to apply to more complex systems with a group of people working on a central idea.  I think I will really love the work that I will be doing in the near future.  Instead of having to listen to college rules, creating what professors want and taking seemingly pointless classes, you will be assigned to a programming projects, doing something I enjoy doing.  This doesn't really connect to my motorcycle joy in life.  I really enjoy riding, and it is mostly a stress reliever and relaxer that just makes it an enjoyable experience.  My other hobby of photography somewhat connects to my major and current career path.  I not only enjoy taking photographs, but I have started to tinker around with the editing of the photo's, giving me a chance to connect with various programs which allow me to think about the computational methods that allows the program processes to work.

I really find that I like many things from the classes that I have taken in college.  For example I really enjoyed some of the biology classes that I have taken, and have pondered the fact that there is a Computer Science degree with applied biology.  There are a few other classes that I have had an affinity towards, but all in all I think that Computer Science is the best for me.  I have been extremely passionate about this subject since my last years in high school, and I do not regret anything about joining George Mason with my major already set and am very happy that I have made it this far to date.

#6 Refined List of Research Topics (freewrite, 5-5-5 minutes)

Biometrics
This topic covers some very easily implemented programming concepts and some very intricate, complex ones.  The most basic, which I have done in a CS class, was to implement a very easy and basic eye scanner, something which could have been more complex and maybe fashioned into something usable.  Most of the biometrics stuff I have learned about deals with security issues on computers and many other places.  With a single eye scanner security can be made much more impermiable.  Just like your fingerprint, your eyes are also extremely unique, and now that I'm thinking about it, I think i've read that it is the most distinguishable thing about us humans.  Other uses of biometrics would be to test your gait.  I remember hearing about this in a lecture with Professor Heishman some time ago.  Apparently this can be used to detect people that should or should not be in the room at the time, almost like a under-floor security detection system.  Biometrics can also help with the disabled.  Just like scanners can use your eyes to secure certain places or things, they can also use them for people missing limbs so that they will be able to work in a better fashion in order to ease their lives.

Audio Compression
Although I havn't had any formal classes on this topic, I have seen enough of it to be interested.  No matter what you're listening to, each file has a certain file type extension.  These correlate to the compressions that the audio has undergone.  I am really interested in figuring out what these compressions actually mean for us humans, and to what extent the sound quality drops in our minds.  I am also interested in learning about DRM.  I know that many music companies sell their music with this type of security integrated so that the buyer won't be able to do anything illegal with that piece of music.  While on the topic of audio compression, I would also like to know how the compression is done.  I know most of it can be done on a computer with various software, but in what manner does the program actually compress the file to make it smaller?  It would be interesting to learn about the function and algorithms put in place to actually compress the files.  Does the software just pick out pieces of the music in different increments so that the song sounds the same, or is there just another algorithm for piecing the music apart while still allowing the original sounds to come through?

Network Security
I haven't had a formal class on this topic either, but while messing around with the topic on Linux I have opened my interests for this topic.  I've heard many instances of network security being very easy to break, allowing intruders into your home network where a lot of delicate information can be stored.  I know that WEP is the source of the problems, but I would think that after a while of being used it would either be honed down to be perfect, or another passwording system with better integrity would be implemented and take over.  In this topic I also know that there is cryptography.  I did a short project on this within the first year of joining George Mason University, and I know that the very basic level is completely overwhelming for a beginner in Computer Science.  During that project we learned that there are many various ways to crypt data and other information that you don't want to be found, and I know that various network traffic can be made secure, both via your browser (for example Google https) and in a terminal via secure file transfer, both of which are still widely used today.  I would be interested in learning some of the more secure ways of crypting data, and learning the uses of each one and how exactly they crypt and secure your data.

#4 Current Major and Career Goals (freewrite, 10 minutes)

My current major is computer science.  At the moment I cant really think of any hard-set career goals, but if I had to note one I would say that I really need to get an internship as soon as possible.  Not only will this help me to get my foot in the door with a computer related job, but it will give me the experience that many employers are looking for in the job market.  This is my goal because it will put me ahead of most students, and in the end I will look better and more qualified for most of the computer jobs on the market.  I will get there by looking around (in fact i've already started) and applying to internships.  They really don't have to be paid, because just like college, I am there for the knowledge and the experience.  Hopefully if I can do a good job there for a semester or year long internship, they will decide to keep me for longer, hopefully under a paid job.  Now that we're talking about goals, I have another long-shot goal that would be one of my dream jobs (in my ind).  I would really like to work at Google, doing pretty much anything related to computers because I really don't want to say that I'll specialize in anything particular at the moment.  Preferably I would like to work at the branch in Germany, which would be perfect since both my fiancee and I plan to live in Europe as soon as we get out of college if not sooner.  This is my career goal because from what I've seen it is the total dream job.  If you like computer related activities, this is the place for you as they have anything and everything related to computers and even some other things.  If the job type isn't right on the target, they offer amazing benefits to their employees that would make the work place so much more enjoyable.

My current major will fit into my plans perfectly.  I really want to work in the computer sector, and my major will fit into that category perfectly.  I hope that the training and knowledge that I am getting at George Mason will actually be of some help to me in the job place.  I know most people say that the things we learn in college are useless, and most of the stuff done in the real world job force are completely the opposite of what we've learned.

If i decided on a French minor, I think that it will greatly help with my current career goals and plans for the future.  If I really want to go to Germany to work, or even grad school, another language would be almost necessary.  I believe that even if I don't get to go to Germany, there are plenty of jobs and colleges in France that would fill my needs, meaning that the knowledge of the language would help me quite a bit.

In 5 years I see myself having a job, making a lower salary because I will just be at entyr-level status.  In both 10 ad 15 years I really see myself having a well paying job (hopefully) doing something I love, and hopefully by this time I will be completely proficient will all activities needed.