Bo-Yuan Huang, INT31
Five Years of Mentorship, Research, and Career Transformation
The demand for skilled security professionals continues to outpace the number of experts in the field. To help address this challenge, Intel and Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science launched a pilot program in 2021 that has since grown into a thriving, multi-campus initiative. The program introduces rising juniors to security research and offers a clear view of research careers in both industry and academia.
This is the story of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program: how it started, what sets it apart, and why it’s shaping the next generation of security talent.
The Spark: An Early Runway for Research
The REU program was co-founded by Professor Sharad Malik (Princeton) and Jason Fung (Intel) after years of collaboration in hardware, firmware, and systems security. “If you start as a rising senior, it’s often too late… We wanted to give students time to explore research before making big decisions,” said Malik.
By engaging rising juniors, the program gives scholars an extra year to build foundational skills, explore security topics and classes, and make informed decisions about graduate school or research-oriented roles.
The inaugural cohort launched under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made collaboration and connection more difficult. Malik recalled, “Like many other things, we adapted. And we were glad we got started.”
The 2021 pilot ran fully remote, using Zoom for research meetings, mentoring, and seminars. That early success laid the groundwork for future cohorts, later refined in person at Princeton (and subsequently at UNC-Chapel Hill and Georgia Tech).
How the Program Works
Eight weeks. Real projects. Real mentorship. Each summer follows a framework to maximize technical growth and professional development.
- Dual-home mentorship: Scholars are paired with a faculty adviser, an Intel research mentor, and an Intel career mentor. They also work closely with graduate student mentors who provide day-to-day guidance on research execution and academic skills.
- Technical immersion and career insights: A structured curriculum blends deep technical exploration with career development. The Intel Speaker Series is a highlight—featuring sessions on cutting-edge research and candid conversations with seasoned professionals about their career paths and lessons learned.
- Learning the research craft: Weekly seminars, paper discussions, and collaborative workshops help scholars develop core research skills: framing questions, designing experiments, and communicating results—essential competencies for both academic and industry careers.
The REU experience doesn’t end in August. Each year, Intel invites REU alumni to return as interns and join security research teams on real-world projects. This follow-up opportunity deepens technical expertise and shows how research translates into industry-scale impact. As Jason Fung noted, “It’s not something that you can be taught in a single class… You learn how hackers think, how to reason about attack surfaces, and how to secure real products.”
Research in Practice: A Sample of Projects
Over the past five years, REU scholars have explored a wide range of security challenges—from microarchitectural attacks and network security to formal verification, AI threats, and privacy risks. The program emphasizes real-world relevance while giving students the intellectual space to explore, experiment, and learn the full research lifecycle.
Here are a few examples of actual projects undertaken by REU scholars:
- Performing Rowhammer-like Attacks on Open SSD NAND Flash.
Extended prior work on Rowhammer vulnerabilities to assess fault-injection behaviors in SSD-based storage systems.
- Program Analysis and Transformation for Formal Firmware Verification.
Enhanced firmware compatibility with off-the-shelf software verifiers to deliver more robust and readily applicable security assurance for firmware.
- Investigating the Queueing Side Channel in Modern Web Browsers.
Explored how queuing behavior in browser rendering pipelines could leak sensitive information across tabs, revealing subtle privacy risks.
- Automated Risk Assessment Framework for Large Language Models.
Developed the security assessment module for LLM-generated code with integrated security checkers and an automated evaluation framework.
- Automated Testing for Network Switch Programs.
Developed frameworks to improve reliability and security in programmable network devices through automated testing.
Many of these projects continue beyond the summer months and mature into deeper research projects. One notable example is the formal firmware verification effort. What began as an REU internship project evolved into a joint initiative between INT31 and LMU Munich to tackle practical tooling challenges in verifying production firmware.
The team released the first open benchmark suite for firmware verification and introduced a new SV‑COMP track beginning in 2025. Throughout the collaboration, the team identified several issues in the TDX Module firmware, which developers have since fixed. The collaboration also resulted in an open-source harness-generation tool that helps address the real pain point of applying formal verification to industry-scale codebases. These efforts strengthen Intel’s firmware assurance practices and accelerate community progress through open benchmarks and innovations in verification tools.
The projects reflect the program’s dual mission: cultivating technical depth in cutting-edge security topics and learning the full research lifecycle. As scholars gain confidence through hands-on work that matters, many begin to consider what comes next. For some, the REU experience sparks a deeper interest in academic inquiry and opens the door to graduate studies. That’s where the program’s next layer of support comes in.
A Pathway to Graduate School
For many undergraduates, graduate school often feels like a mystery—its purpose, funding, and pathways unclear. The REU program helps demystify this process by integrating graduate school preparation into the summer experience and offering scholars the chance to participate in Princeton’s Pathway to Graduate School (PGS) program.
Through this combined approach, scholars gain hands-on research experience while learning what a research career looks like beyond the undergraduate level. They hear directly from graduate students about the realities of advanced study, the application process, and how funding works—topics rarely covered in a typical undergraduate curriculum. The PGS program adds structured sessions on crafting strong applications, identifying research “fit,” and navigating the transition to graduate school.
It cleared up misunderstandings about research and even changed my career path going forward.
The impact is often transformative. As Manya Zhu (Princeton) shared, “I didn’t think I was qualified… But what I found is that this is something I could do.” For others, the program reshaped their outlook: “Graduate school is definitely on my radar now,” said Mukund Ramakrishnan (Rutgers). And for some, it changed their trajectory entirely. Roman Gasiorowski (Texas A&M) reflected, “It cleared up misunderstandings about research and even changed my career path going forward.”
For many, the REU experience turns uncertainty into opportunity—and opens doors they hadn’t previously considered. These personal transformations are reflected in the program’s broader outcomes:
But numbers only tell part of the story. As Jamez De Ocampo (Georgia Tech) put it, “My favorite part of this experience was the community. I’ve never felt more supported in a program.” For many, that sense of belonging is what turns a summer opportunity into a lasting commitment to research.
Not every scholar continues in security or research—and that’s by design. The program encourages exploration, helping students discover whether research aligns with their goals. For some, the experience confirms an interest in security; for others, it sparks curiosity in adjacent fields or solidifies a decision to pursue a different path. In every case, scholars leave with stronger technical skills and professional networks that support their next steps.
When Industry and Academia Join Forces to Build a Talent Pipeline
The REU program was designed to do more than teach technical skills—it set out to bridge academic rigor with industry-scale challenges. When these two worlds collaborate, the result is a pathway that transforms student curiosity into meaningful contributions.
Consider Isabella Siu, a scholar from the inaugural 2021 cohort. With no prior experience in security research, she was introduced to secure bootloaders and formal verification during her eight-week REU experience. That exposure sparked a deeper interest, leading to an internship at Intel and eventually graduate studies in computer security at Carnegie Mellon University, where she conducted research in hardware and system security and completed her master’s degree.
Earlier this year, Isabella co-authored a paper titled “Scheduled Disclosure: Turning Power into Timing Without Frequency Scaling,” published in IEEE Security and Privacy. The work revisited remote power side-channel attacks—traditionally reliant on frequency scaling—and demonstrated a new class of vulnerabilities on modern CPUs by leveraging power-dependent scheduling optimizations.
Isabella’s journey—from REU scholar to Intel intern to graduate research assistant—embodies the program’s core mission: to build a pipeline where early exposure, mentorship, and real-world context lead to impactful contributions to security research. Reflecting on the program’s mission, Jason Fung said, “We are not just developing technology; we are also investing in people’s lives.”
That investment is evident each time a scholar transitions from a consumer of research to a producer of knowledge—from reading papers to reproducing results, and from reproducing to advancing the state of the art.
Isabella’s story is just one example of what's possible when students are given the tools, mentorship, and opportunities to thrive. As the REU program looks ahead, its mission remains clear: to cultivate a sustainable pipeline of security talent.
The People Behind the Program: Intel Volunteers
The REU program thrives because of the dedication of Intel employees who volunteer their time and expertise. Since its inception, Intel volunteers have contributed over 3,500 hours as mentors, speakers, and facilitators.
Employees can contribute in ways that suit their availability, whether through one-time sessions or ongoing weekly mentorship. Many continue to support students even after the summer ends, offering guidance during internships, graduate school applications, and beyond.
For Intel employees, the program is more than an opportunity to help students. It provides a chance to grow as mentors, strengthen leadership skills, and give back to the security community. As Rahuldeva Ghosh (Intel) reflected, “I should be the one saying thanks for the opportunity to be part of this program. The privilege was entirely mine.”
By creating space for meaningful contributions, the REU program benefits both students and volunteers, fostering a culture of learning and connection across academia and industry.
Five Years In: Continuing the Journey of Security Talent Cultivation
From a Zoom-only pilot to a multi-campus initiative with dozens of alumni, the Intel REU program has demonstrated what’s possible when students engage with security research early, supported by mentors from both industry and academia.
For many scholars, the experience reshapes their sense of what’s achievable. They return to their home institutions with sharper questions, stronger habits, and a clearer understanding of what a research career can look like, whether that path leads to a Ph.D., an industry research lab, or an engineering role.
Five years in, the vision is no longer aspirational—it’s a growing pipeline of talent, cultivated across cohorts, shaped by real-world projects, and guided by dedicated mentors. We cannot wait to see how the scholars will continue to grow, leveraging the strong foundation they have built here to navigate their academic and professional journeys. As they grow into the security leaders of tomorrow, we believe they will drive innovation in trustworthy, world-changing technology—enriching the lives of every person on the planet.
Applications for this year’s REU program are now open—find out more and apply here.
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About the REU Core Team
The REU Core Team is a group of volunteers in the INT31 security research team. Jason Fung is a Senior Director, Offensive Security Research & Academic Research Engagement. Bo-Yuan Huang is an Offensive Security Researcher. Priyam Biswas is an Offensive Security Researcher. Nikhil Chawla is an Offensive Security Researcher. Rhonda James is a Director, Business Operations & Diversity and Inclusion.