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Recent Submissions
Oral History Interview with Cynthia Irvine
(Charles Babbage Institute, 2025-03-04) Irvine, Cynthia
This oral history interview is sponsored by and a part of NSF 2202484 “Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy,” at the Charles Babbage Institute. Early in the interview Professor Irvine discusses early educational interests and work, and a focus on Astronomy as an undergraduate and in completing a Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University. The bulk of the oral history focuses on her work in computer science and computer security, with introduction to the computer security specialty working at Naval Postgraduate initially, mentorship and collaboration with Roger Schell, and going to work for his startup company Gemini, a company launched to build high assurance certified access control systems for government and industry. She discusses gender in science, computer science, and computer security. In returning to Naval Postgraduate School to become a faculty and earning the honor of Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, her work has explored and advanced security models, security practices, and computer security education. An early pioneer in the latter area, she was lead organizer of an early computer security education annual conference in Monterey at NPS, work influential to the field and to the National Security Agency in launching a certification of schools as Centers of Academic Excellence in cybersecurity, which evolved to certifications in education and in research, CAE-CD, CAE-CO, and CAE-R. She discusses educational philosophy and mentorship and her partnering research//work in using gaming as an educational tool for cybersecurity. She also relates her work and education within the framework of the mission of NPS, as well the evolving and fast escalating risk landscape regarding critical infrastructure and other realms.
Oral History Interview with Dr. Arvind Narayanan
(Charles Babbage Institute, 2025-03-04) Narayanan, Arvind
This oral history interview is sponsored by and a part of NSF 2202484 “Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy,” at the Charles Babbage Institute. The interview begins with Princeton Professor of Computer Science Arvind Narayanan recounting how his interests developed from his pre-college days, transitioning from mathematics to computer science. He majored in the latter at Indian Institute of Technology. Madras. He then went on to the University of Texas, Austin, to earn his Ph.D. in Computer Science. He discusses how his dissertation, broadly on deanonymization, was shaped by the mentorship of his advisor Vitaly Shmatikov. He relates his entrepreneurial efforts in Silicon Valley before returning to academia at Princeton in the Center for Information Technology Policy, which was then set up by Ed Felten. Narayanan comments on the state of technology policy broadly and how the topic was approached before the 2012 Menlo Reports. He discusses the privacy implications of the Fragile Families Challenge, a 2017 project partnering with Princeton’s Sociology Department. He explains how his approach as a cybersecurity researcher differed from the HCI community, by considering dark patterns deployed by adversaries. Amazon and Expedia were examples of e-commerce platforms utilizing these dark patterns. He also related experiences with Bitcoin, blockchain technology, and their communities. He shares his view of the past focus of computer security on malware and grayware as a possible future focus. He also offers his views on how enterprise systems differ from solely technical problems. Additionally, he discusses his approach to mentoring graduate students, his book project AI Snake Oil, and shares his perspectives on the open AI movement's similarity and differences from historical open-source software movements.
Re-Use Of Minnesota Waste Material In Sustainably Design Soils - Part 2
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2024-09) Saftner, David; Cai, Meijun; Aro, Matt; Amoateng, Godbless
Minerals, forestry, agriculture, and industrial activities in Minnesota generate substantial by-products and waste. Strategies to reuse or recycle these can reduce landfill waste, enhance public health, conserve resources, and cut costs and emissions. Building on the frameworks by Johnson et al. (2017), Saftner et al. (2019), and Saftner et al. (2022), this project extended its scope across Minnesota to include materials like dredge sediment from Mississippi River, RCA (recycled concrete aggregate) and VersaLime. Researchers identified, selected, and characterized various waste, by-products, and commercial materials statewide, as well as tested engineered soil mixes for roadway applications, assessing their stormwater retention and support for native plants. Laboratory methods characterized these mixes, which were implemented and evaluated in situ. A preliminary environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted quantifying the environmental impacts of the engineered soil mixtures. Results were compiled into a design guide for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) engineers.
Minnesota Roadway Funding: Revenue Sources & Distribution
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2024-11) Fonseca, Camila; Land, Matthew; Zhao, Jerry
Minnesota roadway funding comes from a combination of federal, state, and local sources. Federal funding comes primarily from the federal motor fuel tax, while most state funding comes from the three state highway user taxes: the state motor fuel tax, the registration tax, and the motor vehicle sales tax. These funds support the state trunk highway system that includes interstates and state highways, in addition to providing aid to local governments. Local highway funding comes from general funds, made up primarily of property taxes and assessments, in addition to a few dedicated local transportation taxes. This revenue is used to support highways and streets under the jurisdiction of counties, cities, and townships. The network of highways and local roads is essential to the state's economy and the daily activities of Minnesota residents.
Maintaining, expanding, and operating this infrastructure is a major expense for the state and local governments inside Minnesota. Generating sufficient revenue for highways and streets remains a major challenge, and recent revenue projections estimate a shortfall of $20 billion in necessary funding between 2023 and 2042, for the state highway system alone. Understanding Minnesota's road financing structure is important to anticipate and address future transportation changes.
This report details federal, state, and local government funding for the roadway system in Minnesota. It explores how roadway funding is generated and distributed, as well as the history of current funding mechanisms. Statistics from the Minnesota Transportation Finance Database are used throughout this paper.
Alternative Revenue Mechanisms for the Roadway System (Research Brief)
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2024-01) Transportation Policy and Economic Competitiveness Program
In this research brief, TPEC researchers gathered data about current policies and practices in the US and abroad regarding alternative revenue mechanisms to help bridge the funding gap with decreasing fuel tax revenue.