UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #1310

serial: '1310'
sid: '21146'
uuid: 8f982364-4b37-4ebf-945c-eeecf8b33993
uri: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal
created: '1755821301'
completed: '1755821351'
changed: '1756135511'
in_draft: '0'
current_page: ''
remote_addr: 69.254.218.185
uid: '0'
langcode: en
webform_id: urop_project_proposal_portal
entity_type: node
entity_id: '1116'
locked: '0'
sticky: '0'
notes: ''
metatag: meta
data:
  roundtable_info: {  }
  approximately_how_many_hours_a_week_would_the_research_assistant: 5-10
  are_you_currently_looking_for_students_: 'Yes'
  confirmation_1: '1'
  contact_email_fsu_email: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email2: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email_if_affiliated_: zp23e@fsu.edu
  faculty_advisor_confirmation: ''
  faculty_advisor_name: ''
  faculty_advisor_s_fsu_email: ''
  fsu_college: 'FAMU-FSU College of Engineering'
  fsu_department_if_applicable_: 'Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering'
  headshot_optional_: ''
  if_the_project_location_is_off_campus_does_the_student_need_to_p: 'No'
  mentoring_philosophy: |-
    My mentoring philosophy is to create a supportive, engaging environment where students can grow as researchers and critical thinkers. I begin by learning about each student’s goals, motivations, and current skill set. Together, we set clear and achievable milestones that help students gain confidence while gradually increasing the technical and intellectual depth of their work.

    I believe in giving mentees ownership of their projects. Students are expected to take responsibility for their tasks, but they are never left without support. I encourage them to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from challenges in a safe environment where mistakes are viewed as opportunities to improve. Open communication and mutual respect are central to this process.

    To provide layered mentoring, I involve graduate students in my lab as day-to-day guides, while I provide higher-level direction, regular check-ins, and professional development advice. This structure ensures that undergraduates receive practical training as well as broader context for their research.
  mentor_handbook_and_faqs: '1'
  name_of_other_faculty_collaborator_if_applicable_: ''
  number_of_assistants_needed_faculty_postdoc_max_6_graduate_stude: '2'
  other_faculty_collaborator_s_preferred_pronouns: ''
  overall_research_project_description: 'Malware and ransomware continue to evolve, creating challenges for traditional defense systems. This project investigates lightweight zero-shot malware detection, where machine learning models can identify new threats without requiring extensive retraining. We will focus on making models efficient through advanced machine learning techniques, including quantization and contrastive learning. Students will begin with public malware datasets, building baseline models and exploring how these techniques improve detection performance. This project offers hands-on experience at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, with opportunities to present results at FSU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium and potentially contribute to a research publication.'
  please_add_any_additional_information_here: ''
  please_provide_a_link_to_your_publications_a_video_clip_or_a_web: 'https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=iCt6DooAAAAJ'
  please_select_the_choice_that_most_accurately_describes_your_exp: 'Fully Remote'
  please_select_the_location_of_your_project_: 'FAMU–FSU College of Engineering (Innovation Park, 2525 Pottsdamer St.) / Center for Advanced Power Systems.'
  position_availability_for_student_research: 'Flexible schedule'
  position_title: Faculty
  primary_research_mentor_name: 'Zhixin Pan'
  project_keywords: 'Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, High-performance Computing'
  relevant_student_major_s_: |-
    Computer Science (CS)
    Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
  research_mentor_preferred_pronoun2: ''
  research_mentor_pronouns: ''
  research_mentor_supervisor_if_different_from_above_: ''
  research_tasks_for_student_research_assistant_s_: |-
    UROP students will participate in the following activities:

    1. Data Preparation – Download and organize publicly available malware datasets (e.g., EMBER, Malimg) and perform basic preprocessing.

    2. Literature Reviewing - Survey existing research on machine learning for malware detection, focusing on lightweight methods and zero-shot or few-shot learning.

    3. Baseline Modeling – Train and test simple machine learning models (e.g., Random Forest, Support Vector Machines, basic neural networks) using Python and scikit-learn.

    4. Lightweight Models – Apply quantization techniques to reduce model size and improve efficiency while monitoring accuracy trade-offs.

    5. Zero-Shot Learning – Explore contrastive learning approaches to enable the system to detect previously unseen malware families.

    6. Evaluation & Communication – Analyze results, prepare figures/tables, and present findings at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in the spring.
  roundtable_times_and_zoom_links: ''
  skills_that_research_assistants_may_need_: |-
    Required: 
    Basic programming experience (preferably in Python)
    Familiarity with data handling tools (e.g., Excel, pandas, or similar)

    Recommended:
    Interest in machine learning and cybersecurity
    Ability to read and summarize academic articles for a literature review
    Strong attention to detail and willingness to learn new tools
  title_of_the_project: 'Lightweight Malware Detector using Machine Learning'
  update_url: 'https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=u2vtkWi8wWtNhLajkAoNomiHcHy-9hseS-Y8mSctfrE'
  urop_performance_evaluation: '1'
  urop_poster_presentation: '1'
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_2: ''
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_wh: ''
  when_students_are_reaching_out_via_email_what_is_your_preferreda: zp23e@fsu.edu
  would_you_like_to_participate_in_the_urop_research_mentor_round2: 'No'
  would_you_like_to_participate_in_the_urop_research_mentor_roundt: ''
  year: '2025'