Northeastern already has strong research groups in the areas of cryptography, networking, communications, computer architecture, and software architecture. By combining these strengths, more effective solutions can be developed to making Internet-connected computing more secure. Many of the faculty participating in this Institute already have initial funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Security Agency (NSA), or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Most of these grants are single PI grants, focused on a single information security project. The creation of this Institute will provide the foundation to pursue large, multi-PI, and Institute-level programs. We also plan to pursue government programs in the area of Homeland Security.

The members of the Institute research team are:

•	Co-Directors: Agnes Chan (CCIS) and David Kaeli (ECE).
•	College of Computer Science: Javed Aslam, Kenneth Baclawski, Matthias Felleisen, Karl Lieberherr, Guevara Noubir, Riccardo Pucella, Rajmohan Rajaraman, Ravi Sundaram, and Donghui Zhang.
•	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Stefano Basagni, Jennifer Dy, Masoud Salehi, and Xinping Zhu.

The co-directors have led a number of Institute-level groups in the past, including the National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, the National Science Foundation Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, and the Northeastern University Institute for Complex Scientific Software. Both CenSSIS and ICSS have supported research in both CCIS and ECE. The lead personnel represent a team of researchers with a track record for successful collaborations.