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Since fall 2012, several National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research (CAE-Rs) fielded a collaborative course to engage students in solving applied cybersecurity research problems. We describe our experiences with this Information Security Research and Education (INSuRE) research collaborative. We explain how we conducted our project-based research course, give examples of student projects, and discuss the outcomes and lessons learned., Comment: A shorter version of this paper has been submitted to IEEE Security and Privacy

Bullying in schools has become widely viewed as an urgent social, health, and education concern that has moved to the forefront of public debate on school legislation and policy. The Columbine High School shooting in 1999 was the first of many high-profile incidents of violent behavior that appeared to implicate bullying as an underlying cause (Greene & Ross, 2005). The incident ignited a wave of new legislative action within state legislatures that aimed to curtail bullying behavior on school campuses or to mitigate its effects. The trend was later fueled by a number of highly visible suicides among school-age children and adolescents that were linked to chronic bullying, attracting national attention to the issue (Marr & Field, 2001). The heightened visibility has coincided with an expansion of research knowledge identifying a range of serious and long-term consequences associated with bullying behavior, such as increased depression, substance use, aggressive impulses, and school truancy (Nansel, et al., 2001; Roland, 2002; Klomek, et al., 2007; Gastic, 2008; O'Brennan, Bradshaw, & Sawyer, 2009; Juvonen, 2009). Together these factors have placed increased pressure on governments and school systems for solutions to more effectively prevent or reduce bullying in schools. To address these issues, in August 2010, the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cohosted the first Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit, which brought together government officials, researchers, policymakers, and education practitioners to explore potential strategies to combat bullying in schools. This summit highlighted the need for more comprehensive information about the current status of state legislation, as well as information on how existing laws and policies translate into practice within elementary and secondary school systems. To address this gap in information, the U.S. Department of Education, Program and Policy Studies Service, initiated a study designed to answer the following study questions: (1) To what extent do states' bullying laws cover U.S. Department of Education-identified key legislative and policy components?; (2) To what extent do states' model bullying policies cover U.S. Department of Education-identified key legislative and policy components?; (3) To what extent do school districts' bullying policies cover U.S. Department of Education-identified school district policy subcomponents?; and (4) How are state laws translated into practice at the school level? Key findings include: (1) Forty-six states have bullying laws and 45 of those laws direct school districts to adopt bullying policies. However, three of the 46 states prohibit bullying without defining the behavior that is prohibited; (2) Thirty-six states include provisions in their education codes prohibiting cyberbullying or bullying using electronic media. Thirteen states specify that schools have jurisdiction over off-campus behavior if it creates a hostile school environment; (3) Forty-one states have created model bullying policies, 12 of which were not mandated to do so under law. Three other states, including Hawaii, Montana, and Michigan, also developed model policies in the absence of state bullying legislation; and (4) Among the 20 school district bullying policies reviewed in this study, districts located in states with more expansive legislation produced the most expansive school district policies. However, several school districts in states with less expansive laws also substantially expanded the scope and content of their policies beyond the minimum legal expectations. Appended are: (1) U.S. Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter Summarizing Examples of Department Key Components of State Anti-Bullying Laws; (2) Summary of Bullying Legislation, State Statutes, and Model Policies; (3) Bullying and Related Terms as Defined in State Legislation; (4) Definitions of Cyberbullying and Electronic Communications in State Legislation; (5) State Model Policies and Guidance by Legislative Requirement; and (6) Definitions of Bullying: Within-State Comparisons Among State Legislation, State Model Policies, and School District Policies. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 35 exhibits and 23 endnotes.) [This paper was prepared with EMT Associates.]

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. It provides concrete guidance regarding what elements of design and implementation are key to achieving results within a particular setting. Results indicate that program content is critical to improving adolescent behavior. Programs with strong life skills programming are more effective than those emphasizing other content in changing substance use and school connectedness. Effective programming must use interactive, rather than passive, classroom style learning methods. Effective interactive activities should be a focus of future program development. Programs with coherent program theory that includes clear links between outcome objectives and program activities are more effective than programs with a less clearly articulated rationale. The intensity of program service is more important for outcomes than the duration or total number of hours of contact. After-school programs are more effective in changing cigarette and alcohol use and family connectedness than programs offered primarily during school hours. (Contains 9 references and 23 figures.) (SM)

This multiple-site study assessed 48 prevention programs for high-risk youth funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, identifying program characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes. Data analysis indicated that substance abuse programs reduced rates of substance use, and the positive effects of program participation continued for at least 18 months after the program ended. Youth already using cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana significantly reduced their use of substances after joining a prevention program. Gender played an important role in risk, protection, and substance abuse. Despite gender differences, programs that used multiple science-based practices identified in the study produced stronger and longer lasting effects for both boys and girls. Family, peers, school, community, and society protected against substance abuse. Connection to those five interwoven domains clearly played an important role in effective prevention efforts. Science-based program components produced consistent and lasting reductions in substance use. Communities with more opportunities for participation in prevention positively impacted substance use by youth. (Contains 11 references and 14 figures.) (SM)

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. Results indicate that overall, boys and girls respond to prevention differently. Boys experience significant reduction in substance use rates relative to comparison youth in the short run. Benefits for girls emerge later and endure throughout time. Well-designed and implemented prevention programs using multiple science-based components produce positive and lasting reductions in rates of substance use for both high-risk girls and boys relative to comparison youth. However, programs that emphasize behavioral life skills topics are particularly important for girls. Interactive delivery methods are particularly important for boys. Programs for girls only are no more effective in reducing substance use rates for girls than mixed-gender programs. Girls report more family supervision than boys, which may reduce opportunities to use substances. Use by adolescent boys is more strongly related to neighborhood and social environments that may increase the opportunity to use. Connectedness to family and to school are important protective factors for both sexes. (Contains 25 references and 19 figures.) (SM)

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. Major findings include: as youth age, levels of risk and protection shift considerably, with a steady movement from the protective to the risk conditions in most external and internal factors; gender plays an important role in risk, protection, and substance use (e.g., neighborhood conditions have a greater influence on substance abuse among males than females); connectedness protects against substance use (connectedness to family and school form the core of this protection); the peer environment is critically linked to substance use (youth whose peers do not use substance or whose peers disapprove of substance use report less use themselves); and broadening the range of protective influences in the external environments increases protection against substance use. (Contains 24 references and 15 figures.) (SM)

We use structural information from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations for two--dimensional 3He to calculate the effective mass. Static effective interactions are constructed from the density-- and spin structure functions using sumrules. We find that both spin-- and density-- fluctuations contribute about equally to the effective mass. Our results show, in agreement with recent experiments, a flattening of the single--particle self--energy with increasing density, which eventually leads to a divergent effective mass., Comment: 4 pages, accepted in PRL