A ten-week program in Internet measurement and cybersecurity research, culminating in a one-week in-person hackathon at the San Diego Supercomputer Center alongside other active members of the Internet research community. The program is open to undergraduate, graduate students, postdoc, and experienced research collaborators.
A program of the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis at UC San Diego / SDSC, supported by the ESCALATE project (NSF OAC-2519416).
The ESCALATE Training Program (ETP) is a ten-week program culminating in a one-week in-person hackathon at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, alongside other active members of the Internet research community. The intent is to produce ESCALATE training modules that can be used to teach cybersecurity and networking courses. Participants are paired with a mentor in the Internet measurement community and join a small cohort working with NSF-funded cyberinfrastructure on real datasets and real research questions in Internet measurement and cybersecurity. Summer 2026 is the pilot cohort.
The program is milestone-structured rather than hour-structured, which lets it accommodate full-time participants and lighter-commitment research collaborators in the same cohort. It is supported by ESCALATE, CAIDA's NSF-funded initiative for hands-on, data-driven cybersecurity education.
Learn to use Nautilus / NRP (National Research Platform), NAIRR (National Artificial Intelligence Research Resources), and SDSC Expanse. Work with CAIDA's measurement datasets — BGP, topology, active measurement, the network telescope — to develop modules for use in university courses.
Up to 24 participants paired with CAIDA mentors at a 4:1 ratio, with weekly one-on-ones and a small synchronous cohort rhythm.
One week at the San Diego Supercomputer Center alongside members of the broader Internet research community. Travel support is available.
| Format | Remote, with a one-week in-person hackathon in San Diego. |
|---|---|
| Hackathon location | San Diego Supercomputer Center, UC San Diego · La Jolla, CA |
| Time commitment | Milestone-structured · accommodates 10 - 40 hrs/week |
| Cohort size | Up to 24 participants · 4:1 mentee-to-mentor maximum |
| Eligibility | Undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and experienced research collaborators. International applicants with Internet measurement background welcome. |
| Travel support | Available for participants attending the on-site hackathon in person. |
| Stipend | This is primarily a training and research opportunity; modest stipends may be available for some participants tied to module adoption. |
| Ownership of work | Modules and tooling are released open-source for free academic and educational use. |
| Funding | ESCALATE (NSF OAC-2519416) |
The program is open across roles — >undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and experienced research collaborators. International applicants are welcome.
Domestic applicants have priority, international applicants will be considered if space is available.
Priority is also given to applicants whose advisor or department is likely to adopt the resulting training module in one of their courses. The program's goal is to produce materials that get used in classrooms, so a plausible path to adoption (an advisor planning a relevant course, a department open to updated curriculum)strengthens an application.
All dates are in Pacific Time. Dates may shift slightly; interested applicants should check this page or contact training-program-info@caida.org.
For domestic applicants: prior measurement experience is helpful but not required. We use the summer to teach measurement fundamentals as needed.
For international applicants, yes. We ask for working familiarity with at least one Internet measurement approach (BGP, traceroute and topology, active or passive measurement, network telescopes, or similar). Visa lead times mean we commit to travel-supported participants many weeks before the hackathon begins, and we want to be confident they can engage with the technical work from week one.
We do not sponsor visas, but we will provide a letter of invitation to support visa applications for accepted international participants
It can be, but it does not have to be. The program is milestone-structured and accommodates anywhere from 10 to 40 hours per week. A lighter weekly commitment runs on a longer personal clock through the same milestones; a full-time commitment moves through them faster.
Modules and tooling produced through the program are released open-source for free academic and educational use. The intent is to produce ESCALATE training modules that can be used to teach cybersecurity and networking courses. CAIDA will maintain the work after the program concludes. Some projects may lead to a co-authored publication, depending on the scope of what's built. This is not guaranteed.
If the program sounds like something you would want to spend a summer on, we would like to hear from you. Applications are open through May 31, 2026.
Questions about the program or application process — reach out at training-program-info@caida.org.
This material is based on research sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant OAC-2519416. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of NSF.
Application form for the ESCALATE Training Program (ETP) 2026.