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July 26, 2013

Systems Reliability Engineer and computer security expert Neale Pickett (left) of Canonical Ltd. recently presented White Hat Hacking at CARC, as part of a Café Scientifique New Mexico teen program hosted at the Center.

Café Scientifique New Mexico is an informal forum for engaging high school students in current topical, state-of-the-art scientific issues inspired by the adult Café Scientifique programs. The original Cafés Scientifique were designed as forums for anyone to come to explore and debate the latest ideas in science and technology.  Example topics from previous NM Cafés Scientifique include:

• Solar Panels and Electric Cars: Can it be the future for Taos?
• Ants' immune Cells and Robots: How can they find things when no one is in charge?
• Get a CLEW! Challenges and Opportunities at the Climate-Land-Energy-Water Nexus in the Southwest
• Attack of the Super-bugs, The global threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
• At the Crossroads: Will future infrastructure systems be world-wise or world-weary?

The first Cafés Scientifique were held in the UK in 1998. Today, Cafés have become popular all over the world. They are held regularly in the UK, North and South America, Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, Africa, and Australasia.

 Café Scientifique New Mexico has become a free, fun way for teens to engage in stimulating conversations with professional scientists, engineers, and inventors in an informal and relaxed setting. The program is run for teens at central locations in Española/Pojoaque, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Scientists chosen to be Café presenters are working on the cutting edge of an important scientific field and are dedicated to sharing their science with the young adult public.  

 In his Presenter’s Essay, Pickett announces to teen attendees of the White Hat Hacking session that, “in this Café, we will experience HACK, an online training simulator. You will learn the basic skills you need to view the world through the eyes of a computer security expert. Even if you don't want to do this professionally, just knowing what a ‘buffer overflow’ or ‘phishing attack’ is will help you be aware of computer security any time you use a computer to write a paper, plan a birthday party, or order dinner.”

 “I always enjoy showing high school and middle school students the supercomputers in the machine rooms, because they are really excited, interested and engaged. They always ask a ton of great questions,” said CARC Applications Scientist Dr. Ryan Johnson.