Saif Islam Receives Inaugural CITRIS Innovation Fellowship and AIC Award
The award helps turn faculty-developed research into viable commercial solutions
Saif Islam, professor and incoming chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis, will translate groundbreaking cybersecurity research into a viable commercial solution, thanks to a new award.
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute, or CITRIS, part of the University of California system, has selected Islam as one of three inaugural recipients of the CITRIS Innovation Fellowship and AIC Awards.
CITRIS launched the award in partnership with Academic Innovation Catalyst, or AIC, a deep tech funding platform. Awardees receive up to $200,000 over two years to commercialize their innovations, along with support from AIC and the CITRIS Foundry incubator.
Islam's project aims to develop a chip that uses light to generate unpredictable random numbers. This new technology has the potential to safeguard a wide range of systems, from personal devices to critical infrastructure, against cyberattacks.
"My team and I are truly honored to receive this award, which highlights the journey of turning a university lab innovation into a practical, real-world solution," Islam said. "We are deeply grateful to the supporters whose generosity has made this impactful program possible."
The program received more than 65 entries from across CITRIS's four campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced and Santa Cruz, with over half of the submissions addressing climate solutions or AI for the public good.
"Since CITRIS's inception, a cornerstone of its mission has been to accelerate the journey for trailblazing lab research to commercialization, particularly for the benefit of society," said CITRIS Director Alexandre Bayen. "I am delighted to see the AIC program advancing this mission by fostering a new wave of faculty-led projects."
