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AFCEA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE 2006 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR GRAND PRIZE WINNER

For Immediate Release June 13, 2006

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Tobey Jackson

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FAIRFAX, VA - The AFCEA Educational Foundation is pleased to announce that Ivan Sergeev is this year's grand prize winner for the 2006 AFCEA National High School Science Fair Award for the best high school science project related to communications, intelligence or information systems. The winning project was selected from science fairs nationwide and will be displayed at AFCEA International’s TechNet International 2006 conference and exposition, June 19-20, 2006, at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center.  The award includes a cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C. for the winner and his family.

Sergeev, a sophomore, attends Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California. His project, entitled “Embedded Secure Network Bridge,” addresses the issue of cryptography in the arena of internet security.  He hypothesizes that implementation of encryption algorithms over operating systems are vulnerable to attack because of the additional software involved, which can expose flaws in the operating system and thus impact other software on the system.  Because most security solutions that employ cryptography must assume a secure operating system for the software to be effective, Sergeev focuses instead on implementing embedded cryptography directly to the hardware layer.  His approach is unique in that he provides encrypted communication as part of the hardware using embedded technology and not as part of the operating software and therefore is not dependent on the operating system.

The project builds on research from a previous science project, where Sergeev found that embedded security was possible on inexpensive hardware.  His goal this year was to establish a fast secure tunnel over a network between two parties.  The project contains hardware and software he designed and developed completely on his own, for which he has begun the process of applying for a patent.

Sergeev comes from a family of scientists.  His parents and both sets of grandparents hold doctorates - in physical chemistry, organic chemistry, physics and linguistics – which explain his early interest in computers and cryptography.  His current project merges the fields of internet security with electrical engineering.  Other hobbies include internet gaming, chess, mastering the Russian language and learning guitar.  A native of Russia, Sergeev arrived in the United States at age five and, like his parents, is now a U.S. citizen. 

The AFCEA Educational Foundation promotes excellence in education with scholarships, awards, grants and prizes, awarded annually to students studying the scientific and technical disciplines that support communications, intelligence and information systems. AFCEA International is a non-profit association providing a forum for the professional communications, electronics, intelligence and information systems community. For more information visit www.afcea.org.

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