One of the keystone partnerships for ANU and the School of Computing, the Co-Lab, has welcomed and celebrated its inaugural cohort of 2022 Co-Lab Honours Grant recipients.
Twenty-nine students were selected as recipients under Co-Lab’s inaugural grants program, providing students with a transformational educational experience.
The Co-Lab, a unique 15-year partnership between the Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), focuses on developing recruitment pathways and building capacity to meet future workforce requirements.
ANU Vice Chancellor, Professor Brian Schmidt, said the ANU-ASD partnership mirrors the ANU commitment to creating and sharing cutting-edge knowledge.
“This kind of partnership spurs innovation and ultimately helps to make our two organisations leaders in our fields”, Schmidt said. “Whether we are collaborating on the great outreach events organised and hosted at the Co-Lab, our recruitment pathways, training programs or the research we undertake—we could not accomplish the things we do here without this unique partnership”.
ASD Chief Operating Officer, Mr Dale Furse, said ASD needs the best and the brightest to fill its ranks.
“Co-Lab is instrumental in helping to develop the next generation of ASD leaders so we can maintain our world-class capabilities”, Furse said.
Co-Lab’s Strategic Relationships Manager, Ms Jan Shaddock, said the grant recipients are of excellent calibre and had been selected by a joint committee of ANU and ASD Co-Lab staff.
The program seeks out students interested in pursuing a career with ASD and other STEM-related fields, focusing on areas such as cryptography, computational linguistics, secure communications, computing, cyber security, psychology and vulnerability research.
“Each of these students are not only studying a subject of relevance to ASD, but have demonstrated their commitment and enthusiasm for undertaking a career in national security”, said Schmidt. “We need to prepare our future leaders with the skills and experience they will need to stay ahead of the curve and cope with challenges not yet imagined”.
The Co-Lab Honours Grant Program was developed by ASD and ANU Co-Lab staff, with input from the ASD-ANU Oversight Committee, of which both Schmidt, and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Keith Nugent, are members.
Co-Lab unites problem solvers from a variety of disciplines to share in collaborative research projects and provides a pathway for students interested in pursuing a career with ASD and other STEM-related fields. The program of activities focuses on areas such as cryptography, computational linguistics, secure communications, computing, cyber security, psychology and vulnerability research.