Join Us

DRACO is always looking for motivated researchers who want to work on problems others hesitate to tackle. Our students publish in top venues, contribute to federally funded projects, and graduate into roles at leading defense and technology companies. We value curiosity, initiative, and a willingness to learn across disciplines.

Graduate Research (MS & PhD)

We have funded positions for graduate students working on active research projects. Current areas include:

• Side channel analysis and countermeasures
• AI-driven hardware Trojan generation and detection
• Post-quantum cryptographic primitives
• Encrypted/homomorphic processor architectures
• Secure autonomous swarm coordination
• Memristor security and emerging device architectures

What we look for: Background in ECE, CS, or related fields. Experience with HDL (Verilog/VHDL), Python, or ML frameworks is a plus but not required — we’ll teach you.

To apply: Email Dr. Borowczak with:

1. Your CV/resume
2. A brief statement (2-3 sentences) on which research areas interest you and why
3. Any relevant coursework, projects, or publications

Undergraduate Research

We offer both paid and experiential (course credit) undergraduate research positions. This is a great way to get hands-on experience with real security research, co-author publications, and build a strong foundation for graduate school or industry.

Many of our projects have open undergraduate spots — check the Projects page and filter by “undergraduate-research-spots.”

To apply: Same process as graduate — email Dr. Borowczak with your resume and interests.

Senior Design / Capstone Teams

We sponsor applied project ideas suitable for ECE and CS senior design teams. These projects are hands-on, build real systems, and often connect to our broader research agenda.

Browse available projects on the Projects page and filter by “senior-design.”

Industry & Government Partnerships

DRACO works with organizations that need answers to hard security questions — and a pipeline of engineers trained to keep delivering them. Current and recent partners include NSF, NSA, DOE, Idaho National Laboratory, AMD, Northrop Grumman, Arctic Wolf, IOG, Kraken, and Ripple.

Partnership models:

• Sponsored research with defined deliverables and IP options
• Capstone project mentorship — shape the next generation of engineers firsthand
• Collaborative tool development and red team assessments
• Early access to graduating talent trained on your problem domain

Contact Dr. Borowczak to explore what’s possible.