Vacation projects lead Nicole towards cyber

After spending two summer vacations working with Defence cyber specialists, University of Adelaide undergraduate Nicole Jefferies sees an exciting future for herself in the cyber domain.

Nicole initially undertook a Summer Vacation Placement at DSTG examining ways to use mathematics to detect changes in communication networks. Earlier this year she was back in the world of cyber, undertaking a project through the Cyber Summer Internship Program run by DSTG in collaboration with the University of Adelaide's Defence and Security Institute (DSI).

'Through these experiences I gained an idea of where the skills I've learned at university could be applied,' says Nicole. 'I'm also realising that it's a broad technical world out there and there's a lot to be picked up along the way. I feel that the sooner students get exposed to meaningful applications of their studies, the better.'

Benefits of a Defence mentor

Defence scientist Dr James Biddle supervised Nicole's project work. Being responsible for a summer vacation student was a great opportunity for James to get some supervisory experience and to mentor a promising student.

'It made me really think about how to plan out a project for someone else,' says James. 'I've had a lot of experience thinking about how I would tackle something, but it's quite different working with someone else and encouraging them to think about how they would approach a problem.'

Mathematics was central to Nicole's research projects. When trying to describe interconnected systems, structures based on mathematical graph theory can often be a great way to create a data-rich picture. In the communication networks context, graphs can be used to describe data traffic between different devices, routers and other elements. Nicole's initial summer vacation mission was to develop a technique to detect changes in graphs that infer changes in the communication networks (and hence could alert network operators to a potential cyber event). Her recent Cyber Summer School Program research looked at the same type of graphs from a different angle, and added a data visualisation aspect.

Fortunately, Nicole seriously enjoys mathematics and data visualisation. 'I love combining the technical with art. The challenge is to maximise the ease with which someone can understand the data. We're trying to minimise the amount of "ink" needed to convey the message.'

Ready for cadetship action

Nicole is supported in her studies this year with a Defence STEM Cadetship. These cadetships allow undergraduates to focus on projects and work with Defence teams over longer periods of time during semester breaks.

'I can absolutely see myself in a career in this area,' says an enthusiastic Nicole. 'I could probably spend the rest of my life working with graphs. But I'm beginning to see that there are many careers in cyber to be had within different sub-areas.'

Find out more about the DSTG Summer Vacation Placement Program.
Find out more about the Defence STEM Cadetship Program.