Earlier this summer, a college student from Suffolk participated in an intensive cyber security program in Arkansas.

Jasmine Mabrey, a rising junior majoring in computer science at Norfolk State University, was among the 10 students selected nationwide for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s cyber security program. More than 130 students had applied for the program.

The cyber security program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, is now in its third year. Mengjun Xie, director of the program, was inspired to start it in order to help students study mobile and cloud computing and social networking.

“Many students don’t have the opportunity to study this at their home universities, especially universities with less resources,” Xie said.

Beginning on June 6, students spent eight weeks conducting research with a faculty mentor. Eight cyber security and forensics topics were explored.

“We wanted to teach students how to identify and evaluate problems,” Xie said.

Mabrey and her partner, Dennis Frank, a student at Georgia Institute of Technology, were paired with Kenji Yoshigoe, UALR computer science department chair and professor.

The group wanted to explore a new defense against brain-computer interface hacking. Essentially, these are devices, such as drones, that can be operated by brain waves.

Mabrey said the research process was challenging. The group was forced to reconfigure its experiment because its data didn’t match observations from earlier studies.

“With the research process, we learned to make the best of the situation, even though it didn’t go as planned,” she said.

During the program, students ventured outside of the classroom to visit various facilities, including Hewlett-Packard and First Orion Corp. and others and learned about data and mobile solutions.

The students also worked with high school students involved in a similar program on campus. Both groups exchanged ideas, critiques and advice for their projects.

At the conclusion of the program, students developed posters and websites and presented their research to their peers and faculty.

Mabrey was nervous going into the program. But now she appreciates the bonds she built with her partner, mentor and other program participants and professors.

“I was a little nervous at first,” she said. “This was the furthest I’ve been away from home. But we had some fun moments. It was really an awesome experience.”