Assistant Research Scientist; PREP

Salary: $20-$30 per hour

Prep Proposal:
Developing an Evaluation Framework for Digital Watermarking Technologies

This project focuses on contributing to the development of a study on digital watermarking technologies. The student(s) will explore how watermarking techniques are used for protecting digital content and the challenges involved in evaluating their robustness, imperceptibility, and effectiveness. The project aims to build foundational understanding and draft an initial evaluation strategy, supporting broader work at NIST in digital content integrity.

• Conduct a literature survey on state-of-the-art watermarking techniques (image, video, audio, and document-based).
• Familiarize with existing watermarking tools and open-source implementations.
• Understand NIST's role and ongoing efforts in digital content protection and cryptographic standards.
• Propose evaluation metrics, transformation pipelines (stress-testing such as compression, cropping, rotation, noise, etc.), and potential testbeds for watermark robustness testing.
• Draft a preliminary evaluation plan or roadmap that could guide future benchmarking activities.

• Annotated bibliography of key watermarking research.
• Summary report of explored tools and their features.
• Draft evaluation framework document (with proposed metrics and methodology).
• Prototype implementation or scripts for transformation and detection scenarios.

• Background in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• Education level: graduate student or higher.
• Strong interest in digital media security, cryptography, or multimedia processing.
• Experience with Python, MATLAB, or image/audio processing tools is preferred.
• Familiarity with scientific reading and technical writing.

Please upload the following with your application:

• CV/Resume
• Please limit C.V to 3 pages only and ONLY include a valid email address for your contact info. Your resume will not be considered if the following information is included on your CV/resume.
• Self portraits
• Phone number
• Home address/Country
• Citizenship status
• Languages spoken
• Sex/Gender

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated. By applying to a CHIPS-funded PREP opportunity, you also acknowledge that participation in the project requires signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to beginning any work.