College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences associate dean Moses Garuba and associate professor Danda B. Rawat will spearhead a new cyber security research project at Howard University.
"I am delighted to see our faculty vigorously transform our college, while engaging our students in conquering the daunting technological challenges of our time,” says Dr. Achille Messac, Howard University Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences. “Dr. Rawat and Dr. Garuba are exemplary change agents in our college, and I am proud of them."
The National Science Foundation has awarded the college a million-dollar grant over three years to fund new cyber security research by Garuba, who has a Ph.D. in computer science and information security, and Rawat, who earned a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering.
The project, entitled, “Security Engineering for Resilient Mobile Cyber-Physical Systems,” will focus on advancing cyber security for networked systems.
According to the National Science Foundation award abstract, the goal is to design, develop and evaluate the cyber-defense solutions for resilient cyber-physical systems using a federated framework.
“The rapid and massive connection of remotely accessible and cyber-physical system devices, which can be any device, such as a smart car, make CPS systems more vulnerable to a multitude of cyber attacks,” says Dr. Rawat, who is also director of the Howard University’s Data Science and Cyber security Center.
Rawat and Garuba plan to develop a mobile physical systems test bed for implementing and evaluating adaptive cyber-defense solutions.
“With this award, Howard University will be able to provide research assistantships to graduate and undergraduate students to work on this project to develop adaptive cyber defense solutions for CPS," says Rawat.
The project is supported by National Science Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Infrastructure for Science and Engineering (HBCU-RISE) initiative and aligns with efforts to produce the next-generation of cyber security experts for government and academia.