CCI Symposium 2022 Recap
The first Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Symposium, held April 4-5 in Richmond, Virginia, brought together more than 200 CCI-funded researchers and students from 13 Virginia institutions of higher education to discuss their work and build the foundation for future collaborations.
Highlights include:
George Mason University’s Duminda Wijesekera won the inaugural CCI Impact Award. Wijesekera is the acting chair of the Cyber Security Engineering Department at George Mason University’s College of Engineering and Computing and a visiting research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
CCI-funded students, who are an essential ingredient to CCI’s mission, presented 55 posters.
Erwin Gianchandani was the keynote speaker. He’s the inaugural associate director of the National Science Foundation’s newly formed Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate.
Wayne Scales, the J. Byron Maupin Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech, discussed strategies for developing a diverse 21st century cybersecurity workforce.
CCI Executive Director Luiz DaSilva gave the State of CCI address. Download the State of CCI Address PowerPoint.
Karen Sanzo, developer and director of INNOVATE Programs at Old Dominion University, led the Design Thinking Sprint.
Professional Development Workshop facilitators:
- Susan Faulkner, executive director, grants services, McAllister & Quinn, led a session on proposal development.
- Marty Kaszubowski and TJ Master, both tech mentors at the Virginia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP), discussed IP.
- Michael Stowe, media relations director, Virginia Tech, conducted media training.
“We were excited to host our first all-hands meeting,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director. “CCI-funded researchers and students meeting in person brought an energy and enthusiasm to cybersecurity research that no Zoom meeting can capture. We’re already looking forward to next year!”
Contact: Michele McDonald. director of communications and marketing, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative