In response to a comment on my initial post introducing the SEI blog, I wanted to provide some additional information on new and upcoming SEI research initiatives. In this post, I describe these areas, and include a "sneak preview" of upcoming blog postings in each area.

Innovating software for competitive advantage. This area focuses on creating disruptive innovations to revolutionize the development of assured software-reliant systems. Upcoming blog postings will describe

• regression verification techniques that ensure the correctness of multi-core, real-time, embedded software
• safe resource optimization algorithms for mixed-criticality, cyber-physical systems; and controlled user adaptations for mobile device platforms
• architecture patterns for assuring key quality attributes in systems-of-systems
• "market-inspired" mechanisms for prioritizing instantaneous demand for network resources
• cloud computing capabilities for tactical edge systems

Securing the cyber infrastructure. This area focuses on enabling informed trust and confidence in using information and communication technology to ensure a securely connected world. We've already published a post on learning a portfolio-based checker for identifying provenance-similarity of binary code. Upcoming blog postings in this area will describe

• scalable search-and-retrieval techniques and fuzzy hashing techniques that detect and analyze malware effectively
• enhancements to black-box fuzz testing to rapidly detect security vulnerabilities
• secure coding patterns for C, C++, and Java
• patterns for architecting enterprise IT systems to improve resilience against insider threats
• our work in digital forensics and video exploitation
• secure quality requirements engineering
• immersive learning technologies to increase the capability and capacity of the cyber security workforce
• our ongoing efforts to assist the public and private sectors in combating advanced persistent cyber threats.

Advancing quantitative methods for engineering software. This area focuses on improving the sustainment, affordability, and availability of software-reliant systems through quantitative models, measurement, and management methods. Upcoming blog postings in this area will describe

• the effectiveness of critical success factors and future scenarios at improving organizational strategic planning
• a framework for assessing the suitability of common operating environments in systems-of-systems acquisition programs
• contingency models for appraising the degree of agility suitable for mission-critical software-reliant systems
• tools and methods for automatically detecting anomalies in repositories of acquisition program data
• a method for early estimation of software costs based on program execution scenarios and probabilistic models
• measuring the impact of architectural documentation on the effectiveness of open-source software eco-systems
• techniques for quantifying the value of incremental architecting within agile software development via technical debt analysis
• patterns for improving joint acquisition program decision-making and performance

This summary just scratches the surface of SEI research activities. We're also engaged in other projects related to analysis of quality attributes in software-reliant systems, cyber security, multi-view decision making, customer-focused requirements elicitation, process improvement in teams and organizations, software product lines, software architecture, and many more. Please stay tuned to the SEI blog for coverage of these and many other topics over the coming months!

As always, we're interested in new insights and new opportunities to partner on emerging technologies and interests. We welcome your feedback and look forward to engaging with you. Posts will include contact information and links to further information for readers who want to know more, or who are looking to collaborate with us on new ideas. Please feel free to comment on this blog in the space below. Or, if you prefer, you can contact us at info@sei.cmu.edu with your comments and suggestions.