Search for Undergraduate/Graduate Research Assistants
Job Description
Darden professors seek multiple undergraduate or graduate students to assist with collecting and
organizing information about the hardware and software security risks in the electronics supply chain.
The students will read through reports, mine public databases, and distill information into a database.
The electronics industry operates through a global supply chain that spans several continents.
Counterfeit components and compromised software enter at different nodes in this supply chain. Unlike
most categories of commonly counterfeited goods, like apparel and medicines, electronic components
are not end-products in themselves. Rather these components make their way into our civic and defense
infrastructure through multiple steps in the supply chain. Consequently, failure due to counterfeit
electronic components can threaten both public safety and national security. How these counterfeit
components and compromised software make their way up the supply chain remains unknown.
Each student will work on one of the following three components of the project:
1. Mapping the illicit supply chain: Combining information from IP and trade counterfeit reports to
map the illicit networks on product, information, and financial flows in this supply chain.
2. Software and hardware interaction: Collating the information across hardware and software
vulnerabilities to develop a security risk measure for the system.
3. Policies and regulations: Studying the local policies and regulations around operations of informal
and illicit networks around the electronics supply chain.
Requirements
• Education: Enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at UVA. (Work content will be
adapted to the student’s education level.)
• Experience, skills, knowledge:
- Ability to read through multiple reports, mine public databases, and distill information into a
database (excel spreadsheet or other formats).
- Familiarity with big datasets
- Experience with statistical software packages such as STATA, R, and/or python required
It’d be helpful to have prior coursework or background in basic economics, data science/computer
engineering, public policy, sociology fields, but none of these is a requirement.
Hours: Flexible
Location: Remote
Compensation: According to education, skill, and experience
Application
Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter. If you’re interested in a specific component (of the
three mentioned above) of the project, please indicate that in your cover letter.