Summer Research Opportunities

RIT's ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute will offer a variety of paid summer research opportunities. Below, please find information on current available positions and faculty contacts for more information.

  1. AI-Cybersecurity Research Intern

Faculty contact and sponsor: Nidhi Rastogi

Position Info: The AI4Sec research group is seeking a motivated research intern to explore Explainable AI (XAI) for cybersecurity during a summer research internship. The intern will investigate interpretability methods to enhance AI-driven threat detection, forensic analysis, and automated mitigation. Responsibilities include developing XAI-based techniques (e.g., temporal and counterfactual explanations) and evaluating them on security datasets.

Preferred candidates are pursuing an MS, PhD, or advanced undergraduate degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, or Cybersecurity, with strong expertise in machine learning models and an interest in XAI and security analytics.

This internship will provide hands-on research experience and collaboration with PhD students, mentorship, and potential publication opportunities in the intersection of XAI and cybersecurity. If you are passionate about improving AI transparency and security decision-making, we encourage you to apply.

Dates: June 1-August 15 (flexible start/end)

Remote work allowed

  1. Vulnerability Detection Research Assistant

Faculty contact and sponsor: Yinxi Liu

Position Info: Help with a project on vulnerability detection in smart contracts.

Dates: June 1-August 1

Remote work allowed

3. Research Assistant/Cybersecurity Mobile Game Developer

Faculty contact and sponsor: Justin Pelletier and David Schwartz

Position Info: This full-time student role will finalize mobile game development & related publications for an ongoing "candy crush meets cybersecurity" game. The game, called H4ckb0x, has been playtested and iterated with alpha testing and is nearing completion of the beta launch in conjunction with RIT's MAGIC Spell Studios. 

Expected outcomes will be publication through Apple & Google play stores, a national launch party on Discord, a polished paper for submission at a top conference. Additional features and functionality may include PVP mode and additional minigame develoments (as time allows).

This role requires expertise in mobile game development (unity for both apple & android), and proficiency with fundamental cybersecurity concepts. Desired familiarity with popular cybersecurity frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK / D3FEND and demonstrated success in publishing games on apple/android play store are preferred.

Dates: May 14-August 12

Remote work allowed

4. Research Assistant

Faculty contact and sponsor: Ali Baheri

Position Info: Seeking a motivated researcher to explore the intersection of reinforcement learning and security. The intern will develop adversarial reinforcement learning frameworks to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in AI systems, focusing on robust policy optimization against complex threat models.

Dates: May 14-August 12

On-campus role; no remote work.