Cybersecurity Community Outreach
Active Learning in
Microelectronics
Microelectronics and Cybersecurity Learning Opportunities for Our Community
The University of Delaware’s Center for Cybersecurity, Assurance, & Privacy (CCAP) is launching a new initiative funded by the NSF CyberCorps grant to engage students and families in microelectronics and cybersecurity through hands-on learning. Starting this spring, we will host Microelectronics Week, a Security Competition for student teams, and five Community Science Days (CSD) on Saturdays (at no cost), each exploring themes in engineering, technology, and microelectronics. These events will take place at the University of Delaware’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, featuring state-of-the-art facilities like the iSuite Maker Space and Cyber Range.
In addition to these informal experiences, we’re offering Delaware teachers a unique opportunity to explore microelectronics through hands-on projects, lectures, and collaboration. It equips educators with the knowledge and tools to create instructional materials, such as microelectronic kits, for classroom integration. Participants will work with expert faculty and advanced facilities to deepen their understanding of this crucial field. Funded by the CHIPS and Science Act, the program includes a $2K stipend for 20 teachers, supporting their role in enhancing STEM education.
The University of Delaware is a National Security Agency (NSA) accredited Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education.
Questions regarding our Spring and Summer Outreach programs? Contact us here at the Center for Cybersecurity, Assurance and Privacy. Email: cybersecurity-info@udel.edu
INFORMAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES
If you’re a Delaware resident attending a public or charter high school within the School District of Delaware, you may qualify to participate in our community science programs at no cost. *Note, the Microelectronics Security Competition is also open to College Students.
Below are details about our 2025 Microelectronics Community Outreach programs for students. Space is limited for these free programs, so apply today!
Microelectronics Week (July 28 - August 1, 2025)
For rising high school Freshmen through rising Seniors.
Day 1: Introduction to Microelectronics – covering the basics of the field, including its history and evolution, as well as their role and importance in today’s digital world. The participants will build their own Timer circuit based on a 555 integrated circuit using a breadboard and learn the basics of flip-flops and comparators comprising the circuit.
Day 2: Fundamental Electronic Components – covering resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors and their roles in electronic circuits. The participants will use an educational practice kit with LEDs, capacitors, resistors, transistors, and potentiometers.
Day 3: Voltage Regulation and MOSFETs – covering the principles of 3-phase brushless motors. The participants will design and implement an electronic speed controller for a mini drone.
Day 4: Microcontrollers and Microprocessors – offering hands-on experience and how to use them in microelectronic designs. The participants will build and program an IoT device.
Day 5: Cyberphysical Systems – covering the basic components of modern electronic devices’ sensors, actuators, and controllers. The participants will build and configure the Sparkfun XRP robot to use sensors for navigating a maze.
Microelectronics Community Science Days (Saturdays March 22 - May 10, 2025)
We will offer 5 community science days on Saturdays (March 22 – May 10, 2025) and engage 12 high school students (plus one adult family member for each). Each day will include about 3 hours of educational activities and regular breaks. Seating is limited, so apply today!
The experiences planned are as follows:
(1) Motor Day (March 22)
Learn how to build an H bridge motor drive circuit and control the speed of a motor using an Arduino. Participants learn about motor startup current, resistors, transistors, diodes, and capacitors.
(2) Nano Drone Day (April 5)
Learn about Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors and radio frequencies, and build a 27-gram nano drone with precise indoor positioning. Participants learn about I2C communication protocols, microcontrollers, and radio frequency control.
(3) MEMS Day (April 19)
Learn how microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) work and build a motion controller for a mini drone. Participants learn about MEMS accelerometers and MOSFET transistors.
(4) Robot Vision Day (May 3)
Learn how Light-to-Frequency microelectronic sensors and servos work and build a color-based sorting robot. Participants learn about pulse-width modulation and photodiodes.
(5) Self-Driving Car Day (May 10)
Learn how ultrasonic and infrared sensors work and build a miniature self-driving car. Participants learn about microcontrollers and the Arduino ecosystem.
Microelectronics Security Competition
This competition is open to College and High School students.
The hardware security competition focuses on side channels. The competition will have 2 tracks:
- (a) basic side-channel attacks to embedded devices using ChipWhisperer (5 teams of college students) and
- (b) basic side-channel attacks to cyberphysical systems (5 teams of high school students).
Each team consists of up to four participants and will receive a chipwhisperer nano or an arduino-based PCB developed by UD. The competition will last 5 weeks during Summer 2025 (one new challenge will be released each week for each track).
H bridge motor drive circuit.
Sparkfun XRP robot.
Drone motion control with accelerometer.
Self-driving car with sensors.
Light-to-frequency microelectronic sensor.
FORMAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES
A week (July 14 – July 18, 2025) of formal learning dedicated to microelectronics lectures and labs for Delaware high school teachers (teachers are expected to attend all five days.) Participants will work with expert faculty and advanced facilities to deepen their understanding of this crucial field. Funded by the CHIPS and Science Act, the program includes a $2K stipend for 20 teachers, supporting their role in enhancing STEM education. Space is limited, so apply today!
Microelectronics Week for Teachers (July 14 - July 18, 2025)
Microelectronics Week for Teachers offers Delaware teachers a unique, week-long (July 14 – July 18, 2025) opportunity to explore microelectronics through hands-on projects, lectures, and collaboration. It equips educators with the knowledge and tools to create instructional materials, such as microelectronic kits, for classroom integration. Participants will work with expert faculty and advanced facilities to deepen their understanding of this crucial field. Funded by the CHIPS and Science Act, the program includes a $2K stipend for 20 teachers, supporting their role in enhancing STEM education.
Day 1. The theme of the day is an introduction to microelectronics. The first lecture will cover the basics of the field, including its history and evolution, as well as its role and importance in today’s digital world. The second lecture will introduce resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors and their roles in electronic circuits. During the lab session of the day, the participants will build their own Timer circuit based on a 555 integrated circuit using a breadboard and learn the basics of flip-flops and comparators comprising the circuit.
Day 2. The second day’s theme is microelectronic circuits to drive electric motors. The first lecture will cover motor startup current, resistors, transistors, diodes, and capacitors. In the second lecture, the participants will focus on MOSFET transistors used in modern applications and their use for voltage regulation. During the lab session, the participants will build an H bridge motor drive circuit and control the speed of a motor using an Arduino environment.
Day 3. Building on the training of the first two days, day three will focus on Microcontrollers. The day’s first lecture will introduce the basics of microprocessors, their internal components, processor design, and peripherals. The second lecture of the day will focus on learning to program microcontrollers using the Arduino learning environment. The teachers will gain hands-on experience in the lab session by building and programming an IoT robot.
Day 4. The focus will be on learning how MEMS systems work, emphasizing sensors. The day’s first lecture will focus on the principles of MEMS accelerometers, light-to- frequency sensors, and time-of-flight sensors. The second lecture will provide the necessary background on communications protocols, such as UART, I2C, and SPI for sensor communication. During the lab, the participants will practice reading the inputs of these sensors using the Arduino environment.
Day 5. The last day will focus on the security of microelectronics, emphasizing side channels. The first lecture will introduce hardware security concepts and discuss how transistor activity in a circuit can leak information about the processed data. The second lecture will cover basic examples of side channels and emphasize potential mitigations. During the lab session of the day, the participants will gain hands-on experience using a Chipwhisperer nano board and learn how to exfiltrate secret information from a computer chip.