Embedded Systems Cyber Security GRA - Fall - CIPHER

Overview

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem‑solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

• Students are our top priority.
• We strive for excellence.
• We thrive on diversity.
• We celebrate collaboration.
• We champion innovation.
• We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
• We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
• We act ethically.
• We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

Embedded Systems Vulnerability Division (ESVD) within the Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research Laboratory (CIPHER) is skilled in reverse engineering, vulnerability discovery, and forensics analysis of embedded systems. Red team activities focus on vulnerability discovery and the development and demonstration of RF and network‑based techniques to gain unauthorized access to and/or exploit information networks. These efforts identify weaknesses and help ensure that mitigations are effective.

The Division specializes in wireless and embedded devices such as radios, modems, routers, and embedded controllers comprising various military and Industrial Control System (ICS) networks. Research is also focused on developing innovative tools, architectures, and methodologies for software and microelectronic hardware assurance to support needs in trustworthy embedded computing applications, e.g., Internet of Things (IoT).

ESVD seeks Graduate Research Assistants to support teams performing embedded system cybersecurity testing starting in Fall 2026. Successful candidates will need to be able to analyze large problems and break them down into smaller, achievable tasks. To support this they will need to be able to create high‑level block diagrams, create custom scripts to support testing and solve problems from first principles.

Students will be working on projects that may involve one or more of the following: embedded systems development, hardware reverse engineering (RE), firmware RE, software RE and/or signals analysis.

Working alone and alongside other students is expected. Strong written communication skills are a must.

Experience with capture the flag events, firmware/software reverse engineering with Ghidra or IDA, or software‑defined radios is desired.

• Pursuing a Master’s degree or PhD at Georgia Tech in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Must be enrolled full‑time (12+ credit hours)
• Must have a 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA
• Commit to 15–20 hours of work per week

• Experience with capture the flag events, firmware/software reverse engineering, or software‑defined radios
• Task / team leadership experience
• Strong math skills and ability to learn complex engineering concepts
• Familiarity with Linux and open source tools
• Configuration management tools
• Ability to clearly communicate technical ideas
• Knowledge of IDA Pro and/or Ghidra
• Experience in one or more programming languages: e.g., Python, C, C++, Java, C#

Top Secret Clearance