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Research drives cybersecurity innovation, inspiration in Southwest Virginia – Augusta Free Press

Research drives cybersecurity innovation, inspiration in Southwest Virginia – Augusta Free Press

Published Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, 7:28 am

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Tamp down one cyberattack, and another pops up — threatening both livelihoods and lives across industries and sectors. As the urgency of cybersecurity reaches a higher pitch, the southwest node of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI SWVA) gathered on Virginia Tech’s campus in late October. The event allowed collaborators to meet in person and advance cybersecurity strategies throughout the region and the commonwealth.

CCI Southwest Virginia is one of the four regional nodes of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), founded in 2019 to establish Virginia as a global center of excellence at the intersection of cybersecurity, autonomy, and intelligence. CCI marshals a network of researchers from institutions of higher education across Virginia, along with industry partners, to build an ecosystem of cyber research, innovation, and workforce development.

CCI’s Southwest region, led by Virginia Tech, comprises 14 institutions of higher education, including Virginia Military Institute, Radford University, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, New River Community College, and Virginia Western Community College.

“I’m particularly impressed by the Southwest node’s breadth and depth of strategy and activities,” said Dan Sui, Virginia Tech’s vice president for research and innovation. “We have researchers working in agriculture, quantum, 5G, energy systems, drones, across multiple disciplines, organizations, and colleges — the scope demonstrates the true value of convergence research.”

Convergence research, as defined by the National Science Foundation, refers to deep, cross-disciplinary research driven by a specific and compelling problem.

Investigating core technology

“Here in Southwest Virginia, we anchor our efforts in research that drives cybersecurity innovation and talent development,” explained Gretchen Matthews, director of CCI SWVA and Virginia Tech professor of mathematics.

With more than 75 researchers engaged in more than 35 different programs, CCI SWVA research supports what Matthews describes as a “core technology base” to design fast, secure, customizable communications systems. The core areas include NextG technology, quantum information theory, cryptography, defense in-depth, and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

Applications with impact

While advancing these core technology areas, the researchers are also building out multidisciplinary applications with resounding impacts on everyday life —from protecting the power grid and agriculture systems to securing self-driving vehicles and satellites.

For instance, Jon Darab, operations director for the Global Center for Automotive Performance Simulation, is working with the Virginia Tech Transportation …….

Source: https://augustafreepress.com/research-drives-cybersecurity-innovation-inspiration-in-southwest-virginia/