The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, and its Committee on Education (CoE) have awarded Julia Suozzi of the University of Virginia the first-place prize for her 2018 ANSI Student Paper Competition submission. The contest is part of an ANSI-led effort to raise awareness about the strategic importance of standards and conformance among U.S. undergraduate and graduate students.
Ms. Suozzi, a computer engineering student, '18, submitted the paper, "When Mundane Objects Become Smart: Challenges of Standardizing the Internet of Things," which explores how smart products including toys can be vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, and how standardization can play a role in light of these challenges. The paper presents a sociological study based on Ms. Suozzi's interviews with various Internet of Things (IoT) stakeholders, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The paper competition required participants to consider how standards have contributed to making modern communication possible, particularly as media and resources become increasingly visual and image-based, rather than text-centric.
Ms. Suozziwho was recognized at the 2018 ANSI Leadership and Service awards on October 18, in Washington, DC, during World Standards Week received a cash prize of $2,000.
ANSI's 2019 student paper competition is now open, with a deadline of April 30, 2019. The 2019 theme is "How Do Standards Help Mitigate Disaster?"
For more information about the competition or the ANSI Committee on Education, please contact Lisa Rajchel ([email protected]).
About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations.
The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org.