PENNSYLVANIA EAST STROUDSBURG UNIVERSITY RECEIVES TWO GRANTS FOR COMPUTER SECURITY PROJECTSSantorum presents ESU with two grants for computer security projects : The Morning Call OnlineSantorum presents ESU with two grants for computer security projects

$2.2 million in federal money to help institute, research center.
By Tom Coombe
Of The Morning Call

If you use a computer at work, chances are you need to plug in a password to do your job. What if all you needed to do was show your face to a camera?

It might sound like science fiction, but Paul Schembari would disagree. He's director of the computer security program at East Stroudsburg University, where research into projects such as the computer ID camera are under way.


That research got a boost Tuesday when U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., visited ESU to present the school with two federal grants ? a total of $2.2 million ? for computer security programs.

The first grant gives $1.2 million to the university's still-in-development Computer Security Research center, which comes on top of $2.5 million in state funding ESU received in 2003.

ESU has taught computer security courses since 1999 and established a computer security major in 2001. At the time, it was the only major of its kind in the country.

''You are adding a vitally important part of the economy by having these projects,'' Santorum told an audience at the school's alumni center. ''We need to learn from what you're doing here at the university.''

Another $1 million goes to the Cyber Crime and Forensics Institute, a collaboration among ESU, Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.

But although the money goes to two different projects, Schembari said it funds one major goal: making the computer security program a leader on several levels.

First, there's education, with the grants allowing East Stroudsburg to produce more cyber security experts. They can also educate the public, Schembari argued, by raising awareness of crimes like identity theft.

There's also job training. Schembari said the institute will try to help law enforcement officials become better computer investigators. For example, they can teach police ways to avoid contaminating evidence when a computer becomes a crime scene. Something as simple as turning a computer off can erase potential evidence, Schembari said.

The grants also help ESU's research in the computer security field. In addition to the camera identification, Schembari said researchers are also at work on a device that could read a person's handprint to identify them. The technology already exists to use fingerprints to do the same thing.

''Right now, fingerprints are better than handprints,'' Schembari said. ''We're trying to improve the science.''

tom.coombe@mcall.com

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