<p>i am applying for the graduate phd program at mit, my essay still needs a lot of work, but comments are much appreciated</p>
<p>I left high school at 16, as I did not feel that the curriculum was challenging, and was in fact holding me back from achieving my goals to the best of my ability. As a result I gained entry to a Bachelor in Information Technology course at the Queensland University of technology at the start of 2002.</p>
<p>Having had a strong desire to learn, and then discuss all things since an early age, I was very happy to finally be admitted to a university, where I could have relevant discussions with my student peers, help others learn, and learn further myself. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.</p>
<p>I have always been able to think quickly and pick up new concepts with ease, however I found that at university, that most students are still learning about life, and are not yet fully capable of thinking for themselves, I know now this is somewhat accepted, as part of the job of the university is to prepare students for the real world. I found however that I had a strong desire and gained joy from teaching people, helping them understand and passing on knowledge. This manifested itself as being offered a tutoring position in university, due to the fact that I was able to demonstrate my knowledge of the subject exceptionally well, until it went further, assisting lecturers with research and holding private tutoring sessions.</p>
<p>I worked as an ISP administrator at the age of 14, soon after that I registered my own business and built a name for myself doing contract work in all areas of computing, from voice over ip, network auditing, website design and implementation, and software design. It was this experience that helped me gain my independence and appreciate the workings of the business world. During this time I contracted out regularly to some companies, in the role of a network administrator for 2 years, and then an IT manager for a midsize company for 3 years. During this time, while gaining professional experience and contracting to companies such as golden circle and several high profile night clubs in Brisbane.</p>
<p>I have had a strong interest in computer security for a long time, starting with an immature fascination with hackers and a curiosity of the criminal mindset, furthering to developing an complete technology understanding of the relevant technology, with my motivation changing to understand, and protect people, manifesting as professional and academic interests. I have been working on a research thesis for one year, looking at the feasibility and advantages of implementing typically military grade security into more widely used operating systems, in a way which is transparent to the user, so much as it can be.
Also during this time, I gained an interest in travel and exploring the cultures and peoples of the world, starting with a coast to coast tour of the United States and Mexico lasting 3 months, later travelling all of 2005 across Europe and Asia, while completing contract work remotely and locally. It was an amazing experience to meet and make new friends, and perhaps more importantly see the ruins I had fantasized about seeing since my childhood, such as Pompeii and Athens and the coliseum.</p>
<p>At Queensland University of Technology, I engaged in a comprehensive undergraduate study of the four computer science sub-disciplines: data communications, software development, information systems and multimedia applications. I believe my academic and intellectual pursuits are well suited to the wide discipline field of Archaeology, because of its applications in reconstruction, modelling and simulation to aid in a better understanding.
In part because of my teaching and professional experience, I was appointed as Teaching Assistant/Peer Mentor in QUTs General Education Program. In working with a course titled Object Orientated technology, it was my responsibility to develop curriculum for mentor sessions, which accompanied the main course sessions. A significant portion of this year-long course examined the methods and practises of developing software using an object orientated approach, its differences, advantages and disadvantages in both professional and academic contexts. It was vital for the mentor sessions to consider and test concepts and understanding.
I have chosen to work in theoretical computer science in order to help improve the current situation of computing security. In this quest, I am guided by two principles, one theoretical and one methodological. First, I will be motivated by the question: "How can computing be made infallibly and undeniably secure?" Second, to answer that question, I must maintain a broad view of Computer Science as a field. I must attack the problem at all levels, from high-level application software to low-level circuit hardware. In my school work and on my own, I have already performed research at many of these levels. As a student, I have prepared myself for work at all these levels by studying mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering and psychology.
My career choices have exposed me to many aspects of computer security design. As an undergraduate, I studied security and object-oriented programming extensively because QUT specialized in the latter and my personal interest in access control models and early advocacy of UNIX and SELinux and similar systems led me to the former. For my undergraduate research, I designed and built secmark, an extensive, interactive performance benchmarking suite used to test the performance impact of implementing different levels of security in applications and operating systems. As SELinux evolved into one of the world's first accessible military grade access control systems, accessible to anyone, I began encouraging other developers to establish interoperable standards for exchanging policies and configurations files to encourage interoperability between these systems.
I have also been involved in a large amount of extra curricular activity, designing new collaboration systems for families with disabled people, to allow them to share experiences and learn from each other, as well as supporting and building web application systems for representative associations of minority groups, such as the Papua New Guinean students club and Kumul Scholars International. While working as an IT Manager for the previous 3 years, I was given the opportunity to meet with many influential people and help advocate the importance of computer security, and design systems and provide education on why they are necessary and how to best use them.
These experiences have prepared me for graduate school at MIT by focusing my research interests and by developing my project management, writing, and speaking skills. I have learned to organize and lead workshops, supervise students, edit technical specifications and architecture documents, and work through the standardization processes. I have also been responsible for outreach to other communities, including invited talks at AUSCERT, RUXCON, ACISP. My broad involvement with several companies and businesses has also prepared me for my current role writing a series of papers which will hopefully culminate in a book on access control models.
Doctoral study is an opportunity for me to build upon my talents and passion for computer security to help reach my career goals. Many of the best people working in the field of computer security came from industry or industrial research labs and had Ph.D.s, even those who migrated to Internet technology from other fields. That is in itself proof that it requires serious dedication and scholarship to develop perspective on the thicket of interrelated issues facing the constant evolving field information systems security. I want to dedicate myself to this path because I know why I want the degree, because I am prepared for it, and because the research areas available to me match my interests. Working on my PhD will allow me to achieve my dreams and goals, as well as work alongside the people I have admired and been inspired to since I started in this field.
I am excited by the following research opportunities: Secure Processors with professor Srini Devadas, secure wireless network authentication with assistant Professor Dina Katabi; secure network communication with assistant Professor Rob Miller; and SDSI (a Secure Distributed Security Infrastructure) with Professor Rivest. Professor Rivest is someone I have long since admired, one of the legends in the field of computer security, and it would be an honour to have a chance to work alongside him.</p>
<p>As I work toward my Ph.D, I will surely ask many new questions which will not be answerable immediately. Facing up to this eventuality, I do not consider my Ph.D. a terminal course of study. It is my hope that I will have many subsequent opportunities to continue my quest, to expand the limits of computing security, through post-doctoral research as well as my subsequent career as a computer scientist. In all this work, I am determined to continue attacking problems from many levels, as I have done in the past.</p>