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A Message from the Executive Director
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Dear Colleagues,
As we wrap up the year and look ahead to a brighter 2021, I’m delighted to report the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative is finishing 2020 with several announcements that will serve us well into the future.
Workforce development is an essential part of our mission because cybersecurity is a constantly expanding field and companies are always on the lookout for the best people to hire. Meanwhile, students are seeking careers that make a difference. Please save the date for the first CCI Internship Fair, which will be held online from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on January 27, 2021.
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The virtual internship fair will connect students with traditional and alternative paths to internship opportunities in Virginia within industry, government, academia, and startup programs. Program leaders will highlight their organization or institutions' open opportunities, share how to apply, detail expectations, and answer questions. These top programs are recruiting students within the STEM and cybersecurity fields of study but are open to students in other disciplines as well.
Students will be able to connect with program leaders through live chats and video calls. Unable to attend? The internship fair will be made available on-demand hosted on the CCI events page. Students can contact kwbeebe@vt.edu with any questions. More information, including registration, will follow in the new year.
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CCI Cybersecurity Research Collaboration Grants
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CCI has funded 22 research proposals for a total of $4 million. Each of these projects represents a collaboration between faculty members at two or more universities in Virginia, including George Mason University (GMU), James Madison University (JMU), Old Dominion University (ODU), University of Virginia (UVA), Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Virginia Tech (VT), and William & Mary. MITRE Corp. and the Global Center for Automotive Performance Simulation (GCAPS), an affiliated company of Virginia Tech, also are participating. The Cybersecurity Research Collaboration Grants underwent a rigorous review process. To see all 22 cybersecurity funded projects, navigate to the CCI website:
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Arts and Design Collaboration Grants Awarded
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CCI is showing how cybersecurity can be found in unexpected places through the Building Bridges Arts and Design Collaboration project. For example, consider how the way you walk may be used to identify you or how studying string quartets may give us more insight into resolving latency issues. We are funding five exciting new cybersecurity projects led by researchers in Arts and Design. Researchers from George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, and Radford University are part of the funded research. CCI has worked in partnership with the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at VT and the Da Vinci Center at VCU to create the program.
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I’m pleased to announce the inaugural CCI Technical Advisory Board. The inaugural members represent some of the highest levels of industry, academia, and government and bring a wide array of experience and expertise, including running large research groups and developing innovation programs. They’re also strong advocates for the initiative and their expertise will help us develop programs to further enhance cybersecurity workforce development and innovation within the Commonwealth.
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Elisa Bertino
Samuel D. Conte Professor Computer Science and Research Director at CERIAS
Purdue University
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Tracy Gregorio
CEO
G2 Ops Inc.
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David Ihrie
Chief Technology Officer
Center for Innovative Technology
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Zachary Tudor
Associate Lab Director
National and Homeland Security, Idaho National Laboratory
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Jim Mollenkopf
Vice President, Strategic Development
Qualcomm
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Sennur Ulukus
Anthony Ephremides Professor in Information Sciences and Systems
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Maryland, College Park
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Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian
Vice President for Research
University of Virginia
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Dan Woolley
Executive Director of the Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center (GEAR)
MITRE
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INNOVATE Cyber Challenge Winners
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Congrats to the Net Pet team for winning the Fall 2020 COVA CCI INNOVATE Cyber Challenge! Last month a cohort of 20 undergraduates from five institutions participated in the challenge. The students, selected from Old Dominion, Christopher Newport University, Norfolk State University, and Paul D. Camp and Tidewater community colleges, worked in five teams to design their prototypes focused on cyber hygiene awareness. I’m certain we’ll be hearing more from these creative students in the future.
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The Net Pet team includes Madison Callan and Samuel Newfield (CNU), Briana Drew (ODU), and Benjamin Fifield (TCC). Each student will each receive an additional $500 award in recognition of their efforts and the opportunity to work with ODU Associate Professor Kevin Moberly, to continue to develop their idea into a viable business model.
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Open Generation Consortium
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The CCI 5G Testbed will provide essential capabilities to MITRE Engenuity’s new Open Generation Consortium (Open Gen) — a privately funded research and development community that brings together diverse technical experts and domain leaders to envision, design, develop, and demonstrate innovative solutions uniquely enabled by emerging 5G capabilities. The CCI 5G Testbed will help Open Gen test new approaches and CCI researchers, including 5G Testbed Director Aloizio Pereira da Silva, are currently running experiments.
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CCI Fellow Named IEEE Fellow
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Congratulations to CCI Fellow and Virginia Commonwealth University Professor Milos Manic for being named an IEEE Fellow! Well done on achieving this prestigious career milestone!
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We’ll have more high-profile announcements in the new year. You can keep up with CCI news by following us on Twitter and LinkedIn or visiting the website. You also watch CCI webinars on our YouTube channel.
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I wish you a healthy, happy and safe holiday season and look forward to when we’ll be able to meet in person next year.
Cheers,
Luiz DaSilva
Executive Director
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