Microsoft Research
Trustworthy Computing Curriculum 2005
Request for Proposals (RFP)

This RFP has been awarded. To view the award recipients, see Trustworthy Computing Curriculum 2005 Awards.

Background
In the recent PITAC report to the President of the United States titled, “Cyber Security: A Crisis of Prioritization,” it was pointed out that there are major deficiencies in the way software is created, and it made special note of the lack of qualified academic experts in the field relative to the scope of the problem. The latter issue — insufficient numbers of qualified individuals — has direct impact on the quality and quantity of curricular material available to teach the next generation of scientists and policy experts.

Microsoft has made significant investments in Trustworthy Computing, both internally and externally through collaboration with governments, industrial partners, consortiums and policy boards, and academic researchers. However, the company also recognizes that exposing students to Trustworthy Computing concepts in the context of a rigorous program of study provides an important foundation for tomorrow’s professionals. With thousands of students graduating every year in law, business, and computing-related majors, universities need to play a key role in leading the effort to building a more secure future.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is the second in a series of Trustworthy Computing and Software Engineering Curriculum RFPs. This year, we will award a total of $750,000 (US). While the emphasis for the previous year’s RFP was on creation of curricular objects with broad appeal, the goal of the 2005 program is to encourage the creation of tightly focused, subject-specific material in one or more of the areas outlined in the “Goals and Objectives” section below. Principal Investigators must demonstrate an ability to communicate concepts in a clear and engaging manner, and they should add new and significant concepts and content to the existing curriculum materials available.

Motivation for the announcement of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is derived from the lessons learned from Microsoft’s ongoing Trustworthy Computing Initiative (http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc). This RFP is influenced by the results of the 2004 Trustworthy Computing Curriculum RFP, the issues highlighted in the National Research Council Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) study “Trust in Cyberspace” (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/trust/), and Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to working with universities, industry partners, and professional and accreditation bodies to raise awareness about the importance of teaching Trustworthy Computing and Software Engineering across the range of technical curricula.

Information on the 2004 Trustworthy Computing Curriculum RFP winners and projects is at http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/TWC_CurriculumRFPAwards.aspx. For 2004, the focus was on introducing the fundamentals of Trustworthy Computing in courses across Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business, and Law programs.

Goals & Objectives
Microsoft Research will fund a variety of projects to create, test, and disseminate new curriculum introducing advanced topics of Trustworthy Computing into technical and business curricula. Microsoft is focused on advancing Trustworthy Computing by developing innovative technology and policy in the five areas listed below — what we refer to as the “Four Pillars” of Trustworthy Computing, plus a new emphasis on Secure Software Engineering.

Our goal in adding Secure Software Engineering as a topic of emphasis is to encourage the fundamental understanding of theories and tools used for secure design, threat analysis and modeling, security testing, and common coding challenges.

Proposals may focus on the creation of full courses, or a series of discrete teaching modules that could be integrated into other courses or programs of study. Emphasis on deep understanding and targeted instruction of advanced topics in each of the four conceptual “pillars” of Trustworthy Computing and Secure Software Engineering principles is preferred.

• Security — The ability of a system to protect information and system resources with respect to confidentiality and integrity.
   
• Privacy — Maintaining the right to control what information is collected about a user, how it is used, who may use it, who maintains it, and the purpose it is used for.
   
• Reliability — Incorporates topics such as reliable software and services; a broader definition than stand-alone system uptime.
   
• Business Integrity — Adherence to relevant laws, policies, and ethical practices germane to Trustworthy Computing.
   
• Secure Software Engineering — Emphasis on writing correct, maintainable, and secure code.

Awards
The total amount available under this RFP is $750,000.00 (US). Microsoft Research anticipates making approximately fifteen awards with a maximum of $50,000 (US) for any single award. All awards will be in US dollars.

All awards will be made as unrestricted gifts to the lead PI’s institution with the understanding that recipients are expected to provide Microsoft Research with brief progress reports at least twice yearly. Principal investigators will be encouraged to attend a Trustworthy Computing Curriculum Workshop at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, later in the year. Funding for all associated travel to be included in the award.

Awards under this program are for one year, and are renewable at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research.

Eligibility

1. The proposing institution must be an accredited baccalaureate-granting college or university (or international equivalent) with non-profit status. All qualifying institutions are eligible without regard for geographic location.
2. An institution will be awarded a maximum of one grant per RFP, regardless of the number of proposals submitted from the institution. However, collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across the organization are encouraged.
3. Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research, be excluded from consideration.
4. Proposals must evidence a commitment to make any intellectual property created as part of a funded project broadly available for non-commercial use, including redistribution, under a non-restrictive license. (A typical example can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/MSDN-FILES/027/002/097/ShSourceCLILicense.htm.)
5. Trustworthy Computing topics address both technical and social concepts. Therefore, proposals are actively solicited from traditional, computationally focused scientific disciplines as well as from business and law.
6. Funding requests must be in U.S. dollars.
7. Previous Trustworthy Computing Curriculum RFP winners (2004) are eligible to submit.
8. In addition to the above, all proposals submitted should meet the following minimum criteria:

1. The proposed project should result in the creation of content and other materials to facilitate the teaching of a course in advanced topics relating to one of the following areas: security, privacy, reliability, and business integrity.
2. The proposal must include a plan to deliver the created course material no later than the 2006–2007 academic year.
3. The proposal must evidence a commitment to place unrestricted rights to all created materials into the public domain, and to permit all created materials to be hosted and disseminated from Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance Curriculum Repository (http://www.msdnaa.net/curriculum) and the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center (http://niatec.info/).
4. The proposal must outline a plan to disseminate findings at the 2006 Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE), ACM SIGCSE or other suitable conference(s).
5. The proposal and created course materials must be in English; however, translation of these course materials into other languages is highly desirable.

Submission Process
Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals submitted to Microsoft will not be returned. Microsoft cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted or sensitive. Microsoft reserves the right to make public proposals that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

The submission process includes two parts.

1. Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a brief abstract. This information will be submitted through a Web form as part of the submission process.
2. Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project. Seven (7) pages maximum, 10-point font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Proposals should fully address each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings.

1. Problem Statement — What is the curriculum area to be addressed and why is it important to the overall degree program of which it is a part? How many students take (or are expected to take) this course annually? Will the proposed project be an update of existing core or elective course content, or new material? Who will be performing the work (faculty, research scientists, graduate students, others)? What opportunities exist for others to build on the work? What other courses will this affect?
2. Expected outcomes — What tangible assets, if any, will be created or produced as a result of this project? How will the results of this project be disseminated to others?
3. Schedule — When will the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed. (If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only).
4. Use of Funds — Needs to provide a high-level budget describing how the award will be used.
5. Dissemination and Evaluation — How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), how will they be disseminated to others? (Please refer to eligibility criteria for specific requirements.)
6. Other Support — Including other contributions to this project (cash, goods, or services), if any, but not including such things as use of university facilities otherwise provided for an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support described in the proposal.
7. Qualifications of Principal Investigator — Include a brief description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication, or other professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not required.

Selection Process and Criteria
All proposals received will be reviewed by Microsoft Research and eligible proposals will be evaluated by a panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Research. All evaluations will be conducted anonymously. Based on evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Research will select the most worthy proposals for funding. Microsoft Research reserves the right to fund proposals at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount for individual awards.

Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

1. Demonstrates need — Identifies and explains the importance of teaching advanced topics of Trustworthy Computing. Highlights areas in the existing curricula that may be augmented with Trustworthy Computing materials.
2. Originality of approach or teaching strategy — Designed to make trustworthy computing topics interesting, engaging, and meaningful to students in the target discipline.
3. Scope and quality of deliverables — Including the range of topics addressed, the type of assets created, procedures for ensuring the quality of those assets, and rational for the production budget.
4. Thoroughness — Winning proposals must thoroughly demonstrate knowledge of topic and describe importance of teaching this topic.
5. Potential for wide dissemination and use — Of intellectual property created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations, distance learning, as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats and/or under non-restrictive licensing terms.
6. Demonstration of ability to complete the project — Including the adequacy of available resources, timelines, qualifications and number of identified contributors.
7. Qualifications of principal investigator — Including previous history of work in the topic area, successful completion of previous funded projects, teaching awards, books published, and so on.

In addition, it is anticipated that winning proposals will feature one or more of the following attributes:

• Relevance to contemporary technologies in widespread use — The proposed curriculum teaches concepts using modern languages, operating systems, tools, and other concepts that are in general widespread use in industry and academia.
• Measurement of outcomes — Processes to monitor student outcomes, validate results, and demonstrate methodologies for change to the content that will encourage quality improvements over time.
• Addressed to multiple technologies — Proposed curriculum illustrates multiple technologies or concepts to demonstrate a topic. Winning proposals will illustrate multiple examples and viewpoints for a given problem; focusing on one approach at the expense of others will fail to meet the requirements.

Schedule and Deadlines

Additional Resources

Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing site
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/default.mspx

Trustworthy Computing Curriculum 2004 RFP projects
http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/TWC_CurriculumRFPAwards.aspx

Trust in Cyberspace
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cstb/pub_trust.html

MSDNAA Curriculum Repository
http://www.msdnaa.net/curriculum/repository.aspx

National Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education
http://www.ncisse.org

National Information Assurance Training and Education Center
http://www.niatec.info/

National Cybersecurity Partnership—Security Across the Software Development Life Cycle
http://www.cyberpartnership.org/init-soft.html
 

Questions concerning this RFP should be sent to urinq@microsoft.com. Please include “Trustworthy Computing RFP” in the subject line of the e‑mail message to ensure prompt attention.
 

Microsoft Word version of this document