Category Archives: cybersecurity

Honors from National Science Foundation (NSF) for RMU NSF SFS Grant

NSF leadership highlighted and commended RMU for the SFS (Scholarship for Service) grant accomplishments and student success at the opening ceremony of the annual NSF SFS grant PI meetings and student job fair in Washington DC during January 7-9, 2025.

RMU NSF SFS grant PI Dr. Ping Wang and Co-PI Dr. Noory Etezady supervised the following 11 RMU SFS students at the job fair:

Connor Quinn, Will Rebello, Grant Carvender, Rob Pava, Jorge Pinzon, Steven Zalenski, Reese Martin, Darren Grey, James Bonacci, Chloe Dzuba, Peyton Lutchkus

Commendation from NCL

Commendation from National Cyber League (NCL)

The National Cyber League (NCL) Commissioner has formally commended the following RMU NCL faculty coach and students for placing #69 nationally in the Cyber Power Rankings among over 9,260 students from 550 colleges and universities in the NCL Fall 2024 Season.

RMU NCL Faculty Coach: Dr. Ping Wang

RMU Students with Outstanding NCL Performance:
Connor Quinn, Will Rebello, Steven Zalenski, Rob Pava, Grant Carvender, James Bonacci, Landon Morrison, Jeremy Tuskin, Isabelle Horgan, Peyton Lutchkus, and Sierra Dayak.

NSF SFS Student James Bonacci Presentation at NCEC

James Bonacci, an NSF SFS student scholar in RMU’s accelerated BS/MS Cybersecurity program, was invited and funded by the national Information Security Research Education (INSuRE) program to present at the 2024 National Cybersecurity Education Colloquium (NCEC) in St. Louis, Missouri during October 7-10, 2024. The presentation was based on a guided team research project on AI/neural network models for security completed in the spring semester by 4 RMU NSF SFS student scholars (James Bonacci, Peyton Lutchkus, Reese Martin, and Rob Pava). Dr. Bradford Kline from the National Security Agency (NSA) served as the government mentor, and Dr. Ping Wang was the RMU faculty supervisor for the team. Thanks to RMU Provost Dr. Joseph Zimmer for his attendance at NCEC in support of RMU cybersecurity programs and students!

(Pictured above James Bonacci and Dr. Ping Wang)

National Cybersecurity Virtual Career Fair

If you are interested in cybersecurity, check out the CAE career fair:

National Cybersecurity Virtual Career Fair
Friday, September 27, 2024
9am-1pm Pacific
12pm-4pm Eastern

For more information:
https://caecommunity.6connex.com/event/virtual/students/login

Cybersecurity Internships Available through the VIVID Coalition – deadline to apply is August 25th

CAE in Cybersecurity Community
The Virtual Internship and Varied Innovative Demonstrations (VIVID) Coalition comprised of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Augusta University, University of Arizona, and Florida International University has internship opportunities available for college undergraduates.

Objective
The virtual internships will be offered to address the problem of helping students translate academic learning to cybersecurity practice and competency in a work role or job as well as the opportunity to earn as they learn.

Important Information
– Interns will work 20 hours per week for 8 weeks at $18.00 per hour
– Internship is 30 Sep – 22 Nov, 2024
– Remote Work
– Minimum grade point average of 3.0
– Must have completed at least one year toward a cybersecurity-related academic program
– Must be a U.S. citizen
– Selectees will be notified by 6 September 2024

Application Deadline is August 25th, 2024. Apply Now!

Application Form

CIS Students Medal in National Cyber League

Several CIS students achieved medals in the National Cyber League (NCL) Spring 2024 season based on their individual and team performance.

Rob Pava, Diamond Medalist
Steven Zalenski and Reese Martin, Platinum Medalists
James Bonacci, Gold Medalist
Peyton Lutchkus, Jerry Cook and Darren Gray, Silver Medalists

Congratulations to all!

Reese Martin and Robby Pava Present Research at the NESDI Conference

Two NSF Scholarship for Service (NSF-SFS) students, Reese Martin and Robby Pava, presented their research project at the NEDSI conference this month. The Northeast Decision Sciences Institute (NEDSI) is one of five regions in the Americas Division of the professional society, the Decision Sciences Institute. This region encompasses the Northeastern United States. NEDSI holds an annual regional meeting each spring.

Their paper was presented in poster format and was titled, “Comparing Machine Learning Algorithms in the Context of Antiviruses: A Content Analysis of Decision Tree, Support Vector Machines and Neural Networks Research.” Authors were Reese Martin, Robby Pava, and Dr. Sushma Mishra (advisor).

Their paper presents a comparative study of three major machine learning algorithms and the impact they can have on antivirus detection and response. The three algorithms reviewed in this study were decision trees, support vector machines, and neural networks. They analyzed how these ML approaches effectively impact antivirus’s ability to locate and adequately block incoming malware. Implications are drawn, and future research directions are discussed.

Update: This poster won Second Place in the Undergraduate Poster Award competition at the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute (NEDSI) Conference.

Congratulations on this accomplishment!

Flipper Zero Lab, presented by TSC

Join the Top Secret Colonials (TSC) for a  lab and demonstration of the Flipper Zero, a handheld pentester-like tool that can read, write, and emulate NFC and RFID tags, analyze and produce signals, use and read infrared data, and much more that can be installed onto the device through forums like GitHub.

Join us in Wheatley 110 this Wednesday, 4/24, at 4:30 as we demonstrate what the Flipper Zero can do.