Page 27 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No1

UD is one of nine universities chosen by The MITRE Corporation to serve on the Academic Affiliates Council,
supporting the company’s operation of the nation’s first federally funded research and development center on cybersecurity. Pictured are students who participated in the United States Cyber Challenge camp hosted at UD in July.
Asked about efforts to force software developers to include anti-encryption access points in data encryption programs, Chertoff said he’s reached the conclusion that government should not make such requirements. He said that would just make U.S. products less attractive around the world, where they would be seen as vulnerable, and would mean only “bad guys” would have impenetrable software.
Managing responses to cyberattacks probably should be left to the federal gov- ernment, though, Chertoff said. Corpora- tions should not try to retaliate.
Walker said security analysts focus instead on what happened, how it happened, and what needs to change to prevent a recurrence.
Michael Vaughan, associate dean of the College of Engineering, said he is excited about the educational and re- search opportunities UD’s Cybersecurity Initiative brings to campus.
Walker has established an advisory council to help guide the initiative that includes representatives from business and government, as well as key academic part- ners including Purdue, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Texas, whose cyber- strengths will complement UD’s.
The work will include local academic partners, too—including Delaware Tech- nical Community College and Delaware State University. Students at those schools will be part of the cybersecurity training “pipeline,” said Delaware Tech President Mark Brainard.
This past fall, UD began offering an 18-credit minor in cybersecurity, allowing students to incorporate computer and network security fundamentals into their current degree program. A major is in development and a proposed master’s degree is under review by the Faculty Senate, Walker said.
It’s a challenge that appeals to many stu- dents, including Dylan Ross, an engineer and first-year Ph.D. candidate doing re- search in electromagnetics and photonics.
“What drives me is solving problems,” Ross said, “and no one’s ever cracked this one. No system is perfect, every design
is going to have some kind of flaw.... But solving a specific problem—for a lot of students in science and engineering, that is what drives them.”
Did you know from an early age that you wanted to go into cyberscience?
Well, growing up in Indepen- dence, Missouri, I built an oscillo- scope when I was 12, and I got a vacuum meter to build TVs and radios to learn signal processing. I also loved my chemistry set and launching rockets. My dad was a Navy fighter pilot during WWII. My Mom got her master’s at the Sorbonne and taught French and Spanish. They both influenced me greatly.
What keeps you up at night?
Without question, cybersecurity is serious business, and UD needs to be at the forefront of workforce development in this area. I’m excited about the opportunity to establish a world-class program, working with domestic and inter- national partners, that will make this a win both for our university and for corporate America, and also add value to small business, as an engine for the future.
Starnes Walker, director of the UD Cybersecurity Initiative, formerly was chief technology officer and technical director
for the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet for the Department of Navy/Department of Defense. His previous senior executive positions include director of research for the Department of Homeland Security, technical director and chief scientist at the Office of Naval Research, associate laboratory director at Argonne National Laboratory, and senior adviser for science and technology at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
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EVAN KRAPE