Innovative Carleton researcher in running for award

Ottawa – Post-doctoral fellow Sonia Chiasson is vying to take top honours in the student researcher category at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) Awards on April 8 for her PhD research focused on online security. If she is successful, it would be Carleton’s sixth consecutive win in this category.

Working with Dr. Paul Van Oorschot, Canada Research Chair in Network and Software Security, and Dr. Robert Biddle, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Chiasson investigated graphical passwords for online authentication systems, such as online banking and transactions.

Chiasson is now completing a post-doctoral research fellowship with both Biddle and Van Oorschot and is further testing models to ensure they are both usable and secure.

In 2007, Chiasson won Best Paper at the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS) for her research in this area.

The OCRI Awards gala on Wednesday, April 8 at the Westin Hotel, is the premier awards event for the region’s business, research and academic community. The annual event recognizes the achievements of some of the most successful organizations and individuals in Ottawa.

“We are proud of the quality and calibre of the submissions we received. Ottawa continues to produce world-class technology and we’re driven by our entrepreneurial strengths,” says Claude Haw, president and CEO of OCRI. “The companies and individuals we will honour next week, and all of the nominees, have made remarkable contributions to our business community and have helped to make Ottawa a healthier, more innovative and prosperous city.”