STATEMENT OF PURPOSE FOR Ph.D.

IN COMPUTER SCIENCE FALL 2023

The internet has become a vital aspect of global growth due to rapid technological improvement.
Notable among these transformational technologies is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has
seen a steep increase, with over 75 billion devices expected to be in circulation by 2025, ranging
from smart wearable devices, and smart homes to smart cities, with almost direct effects on
individual lifestyles, billions of these devices are connected to each other exchanging and
generating enormous amount of data. Data is now popularly referred to as the "new gold,"
placing businesses and individuals at risk, as it has become a primary target of attackers in
several number of cyber-attacks. Today's world faces a significant challenge in guaranteeing data
and user’s security and privacy when accessing the internet and most especially with resource-
constrained technologies such as IoT devices. Cybersecurity solutions are at the top of the
priority list for protecting people and devices from these threats to security and privacy. As a
result, my goal is to make significant contributions to the development of novel models through
high-quality research to serve as cyber security solutions in ensuring security and privacy of
users. To achieve this aim and further my academic studies, I intend to pursue graduate studies at
this prestigious university in order to obtain a Ph.D in Computer Science.

I am currently a final-year student with a First-Class on a CGPA of 4.99 of a 5.0 Scale.

Throughout my undergraduate studies, I have gained several skills and knowledge of cyber
security technicalities while taking various courses such as Algorithm and complexity analysis,
Data Structure, System Security, Fault Tolerant computing, Cryptographic Algorithm, Linear
algebra, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Modelling and simulation, System and Network
Administration, Digital Forensics, System Analysis and Design, Computer architecture, and
various Programming languages (C, C++, Python), which has provided me with a strong footing
in the theoretical concept of cyber security. While offering both depth and breadth in this field,
these courses emphasize the importance and relevance of cyber security and the application of its
basics to real-world situations, as well as the necessity to develop sustainable cybersecurity tools
and solutions to help keep the cyberspace secure.

In addition, I had a very successful internship with a Tier 3 National Shared Service Data
Center in my home country Nigeria, where I worked as a Network security analyst managing

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client firewalls (Palo Alto, Huawei USG, and Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager), as well
as being a member of the incident response team. This experience provided me with additional
information about the cybersecurity field. I learnt about computer networking, securing system
servers and databases, security policies, and threat analysis. In addition, I closely worked with
the research team, which allowed me to work on larger-scale projects involving high-level
software and technologies such as AI-based intrusion detection systems and advanced endpoint
security software.

I became interested in finding ways to keep the internet safe after completing courses and
research projects in the field of artificial intelligence. I discovered that artificial intelligence and
its subdomains can be employed to provide various solutions needed to protect devices from
cyber-attacks, which formed the basis of my undergraduate research. My undergraduate research
focused on "Deep learning technique for Intrusion detection system in Internet of Things
devices," with the goal of developing a unique model to secure IoT devices by detecting attacks
in its network early, while also finding solutions to the existing gap in the research field. The
research helped develop my python programming skills and equipped me with an understanding
of various machine learning and deep learning algorithms.

This interdisciplinary research which cuts across cybersecurity, Internet of Things, and
artificial intelligence exposed me to numerous benefits of using artificial intelligence, deep
learning, and machine learning techniques in cybersecurity, Due to constraints in resources and
time, I could not delve deeper into the applications of artificial intelligence in detecting
anomalous behavior in IoT networks, however, I would love to explore this research option in
my graduate studies, hence I decided to pursue a graduate degree in computer engineering with a
concentration in cybersecurity in order to broaden my research scope and gain the necessary
skills to develop novel AI-models and technologies that will help protect devices from attacks.
My graduate studies research will evolve around Cybersecurity, IoT, and Artificial intelligence
and its subdomains (AI for Cybersecurity), and also Cyber Security for AI.

My undergraduate days as been all but surviving each day, coming from a poor
background, I strived and worked twice as hard to achieve my set goals of successfully acquiring
a bachelor degree, I was able to graduate as I received NNPC/TOTAL National Merit
Scholarship Award which funded my undergraduate studies while the basic salary I receive

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monthly from the Nigerian Air Force was used to fend for my family. As a First-Generation
African student with none of my parents with any form of basic education, and coming from an
under-represented community in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Cyber security, I hope to
advance my career in the Nigerian Air Force from a non-commissioned officer to
a commissioned officer at the end of my graduate studies, this degree will grant me the
opportunity to work at the Air Force Research and Development Centre where I can contribute
my own quota of my gained experience to securing the Air force Internet of Battle of Things
such as the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV’s).

I will also serve as motivation to other non-commissioned officers who joined the
service with a secondary school certificate like myself but in the end, through dedication and
hard work became one of the 0.005 percentage who made it to graduate from a Ph.D. program
while still being a non-commissioned officer. For long time goals, I plan to establish a
cybersecurity academy to provide students with hands-on experience and to assist anyone who
wants to pursue the profession of cybersecurity including military personnel transitioning to civil
life. Additionally, this academy will offer cybersecurity training to startups and organizations.

Cornell University boasts of highly qualified faculty professors, with state-of-the-art research
facilities, which is intriguing as I look to join the team, to contribute high-quality research in
developing novel models, writing award-winning papers, teamwork, and hard work, as my
contribution to the lab and university, also to invest my knowledge of cloud computing to help
the lab in whatsoever capacity. I consider Cornell University Ph.D. in Computer Science
program a suitable fit for me. I desire to be considered for all university available scholarships
and graduate assistantship programs; I am more certain that I will graduate from this program
with skills and knowledge founded not just in abstract knowledge but also in a genuine
understanding of how to apply theoretical knowledge in a real-life environment.

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