Managing the Crossroads of Academia and Industry

The transition between academic research and joining the industry workforce is often met with uncertainty, doubt, and changes in perspectives. Things that seem important while taking courses, reading through the literature, or getting captivated in a research topic can quickly change when starting to work in the industry. It takes many recent college graduates more time than expected to acclimate during their transition to the industry. This presentation will provide deeper insights into what to expect during the transition into industry, an overview of attacks the industry battles day-to-day, the importance of collaboration, details around why communication skills are a necessity, and methods for continuing to be a successful researcher as a security practitioner.

In optimal situations, industry and academia partner together to address difficult to solve problems with innovative solutions. However, there is sometimes a disconnect between academia and the industry. Industry often has lofty expectations of joint research projects with academia but often provide poorly defined data sets for those projects. On the other hand, academia can struggle with their industry partners because the industry researchers lack time and struggle to properly scope problems. These differences can often cause projects to not get funded or lose focus and fade away. Despite this, successful collaborations between industry and academia surface every so often in the literature. Such work is often highly successful because of the precision and drive that academic researchers offer being complemented by the industry's real world data sets and the breadth and depth of knowledge around specific issues. The presentation will provide the audience with successful project use cases that PayPal's Information Security team has accomplished through internships and funding university projects.