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Recent recipient’s perspective on outreach development for a CAREER proposal

Gang TanDepartment of Computer Science & Engineering

Lehigh University

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Vague Idea Initially …

• My research area: computer security• Initial idea: high-school student security and

privacy education– Clearly there is such a need– Connect to Lehigh’s Launch-IT program• Glenn Blank, Henry Odi, …

– Maybe going to local high schools to teach a few lectures a year?

• However, I had no experience of US high schools; not sure what they want

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Investigation

• Talked to Henry, Alec, Glenn, …• Henry suggested– Instead of teaching students, why not educate

teachers?– Help teachers design security & privacy modules

that can be integrated into their curriculum– Key advantage: being sustainable

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The Final Outreach Plan

• A summer teacher workshop on year 1, 3, and 5– Gather around 5 teachers from local high schools– Computer security and privacy education– Help them develop lesson plans

• Curriculum integration: year 2 and 4– Graduate students as points of contacts– Provide technical support for the integration

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Adding Details

• Described a rough schedule for the workshop• Budget– Stipend support for participating teachers– Support for graduate students that help the

integration• Added Evaluation plan

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Obtaining Collaboration Letters

• Contacted several high-school principals and teachers

• Liberty High– Responded enthusiastically– They had positive experience with the Launch-IT

program– I visited them and talked to their high-school

technology teachers– They provided a collaboration letter

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Some Feedback from Reviewers

“The PI has a solid plan for education and outreach activities. The workshop proposed looks pretty ambitious.”

“I am impressed that the high school teaches Flash programming. To broaden the potential impact and relevance of the workshop, the PI might consider developing alternate modules as I do not think most high schools teach flash programming.”

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A Few Tips for the Outreach Plan

• Talk to experts!– We have wonderful resources at Lehigh

• Try to participate in an NSF review panel• Start early– Your plan may need to go through several

iterations• Obtain collaboration letters• Make sure it’s something manageable– But also don’t be overly conservative

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My Perspective on the Research Plan

• Safe, but possible criticism: evolutionary work

Your comfort zone

Proposed work

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My Perspective on the Research Plan

• Possible criticism: no prior experience

Your comfort zone

Proposed work

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My Perspective on the Research Plan

• Requires literature research

Your comfort zoneProposed

work