The 2023 Trusted CI Fellows
Ramazan S. Aygun
Director of Center for Research Computing at Kennesaw State University
Ramazan S. Aygun is the Director of Center for Research Computing at Kennesaw State University and Associate Professor of Computer Science with joint appointment at the School of Data Science and Analytics. He has published more than 130 refereed international journal papers, conference papers and book chapters in various aspects of data science including big data computing, machine learning, multimedia forensics, data mining, data modeling, data communications, data compression, data presentation, data retrieval, data indexing, data querying, and data fusion. His most recent work includes trustworthy machine learning and developing fair and explainable machine learning models by studying possible bias in the datasets. He is recently leading NSF funded project titled “CC* Data Storage: High Volume Data Storage Infrastructure for Scientific Research and Education at Kennesaw State University Shared as Open Science Data Federation Data Origin.” Dr. Aygun served as a program co-chair of IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia in 2012 and 2018. He has also served on the organization and program committees of more than 60 conferences and workshops. He is also serving as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Multimedia. He is a co-author of the book titled Data Analytics for Protein Crystallization.
Phuong Cao
Research Scientist at the Cybersecurity Division at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Phuong Cao is a Research Scientist at the Cybersecurity Division at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research mission is to secure cyberinfrastructure, in particular high performance scientific computing, e.g., Blue Waters supercomputer. He has a broad interest in security, with a multidisciplinary focus on Internet-scale measurements of operational systems, deep measurement driven analytics using probabilistic graphical models, ML/AI-driven honeypot for early attack response, and machine assisted proofs of federated authentication protocols. Prior to joining NCSA, he has had hands-on experience in the network security industry, including reverse engineering of polymorphic computer viruses, responding to globally distributed denial of service attacks (Akamai’s CDN, LinkedIn), securing the Watson Health Cloud (IBM z Systems), and formal verification of smart contracts and OAuth protocols (Microsoft).
Nick Harrison
Information Security Officer for the North Carolina Community College System
Nick Harrison is an Information Security Officer for the North Carolina Community College System, where he helps staff and faculty provide secure technical solutions for the next generation of the nation's workforce. Prior to joining the Community College system, Nick was the Director of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Services at the Renaissance Computing Institute. He has over twenty years of IT experience in higher education and enjoys learning about cloud and virtualization technologies.
Lori Sussman
Assistant Professor of Technology and Cybersecurity at the University of Southern Maine.
Lori Sussman, Ed.D., is an Assistant Professor of Technology and Cybersecurity at the University of Southern Maine. She was part of the fourth class at the United States Military Academy to admit women and is a West Point graduate. Lori retired from the U.S. Army as a highly decorated colonel. Her military leadership experiences include 15th Regimental Signal Brigade Commander, 2nd Infantry Division Battalion Commander/CIO/G-6, Presidential Communications Officer, Joint Staff J-6 Executive Officer, and Assistant to the Army Chief of the Staff, as well as numerous demanding tactical assignments. Upon leaving service, Dr. Sussman worked in large and small companies, notably Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). She is also an entrepreneur, having created several consulting businesses. In these varied roles, Dr. Sussman has managed a spectrum of highly complex organizations engaged in developing, integrating, deploying, and sustaining state-of-the-art technology and security solutions for clients. The Epsilon Pi Tau Technology Honor Society Awarded Dr. Sussman with the Warner Minilecture Award in 2020 and 2021 for her research about Cybersecurity Ambassadors. These individual awards followed recognition by the National Cyberwatch Center as the 2021 Most Innovative Cybersecurity Education Initiative. In 2021, Governor Mills named Dr. Sussman one of eleven veteran aides-de-camp. Her research areas include cybersecurity education, cybersecurity training and awareness, gender equity in technology and cybersecurity, and technology and cybersecurity leadership.
.
Dr. Gary Rogers
HPC Systems Administrator for the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS) at the University of Tennessee
Dr. Gary Rogers earned his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, while starting his career at the National Institute for Computational Sciences. He has over 18 years of HPC experience, many of those as an HPC administrator on some of the fastest supercomputers in the world. He played a key role in the national cyberinfrastructure projects, XSEDE and XSEDE 2.0, as the manager of the System and Operations Support group. He also participated in the XSEDE 2.0 Cybersecurity group, as well as the XSEDE Development Coordination Council. His current interests include developing and deploying secure compute platforms on which sensitive data can be analyzed, while reducing the barrier of entry for researchers to access and use such a platform. He holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, as well as a BS in Computer Science from the University of the South (Sewanee).
David White
Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management research professor at Clemson University
David White is a Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management research professor at Clemson University. He is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) expert with over twenty-five years in mapping, analytics, and spatial data collection. His most recent work uses mobility data to study visitation behavior in parks and protected areas. Additionally, his research has included several projects developing enterprise data and information systems requiring spatial data visualization and analytics. He holds a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina.
Andrew Ferbert
Platform Services manager at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego (UCSD).
Andrew Ferbert is the Platform Services manager at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego (UCSD). Andrew’s primary responsibility is supporting SDSC and UCSD researchers through managed systems, operational support, and production systems integration. Throughout his career at SDSC, Andrew has never shied away from challenges and has worked in a variety of roles including desktop support, datacenter physical security, systems administration within HIPAA and FISMA projects, and working on projects with various branches of the United States Armed Forces.
The Fellows will receive training consisting of a Virtual Institute, providing 20 hours of basic cybersecurity training over six months. The training will be delivered by Trusted CI staff and invited speakers. The Virtual Institute will be presented as a weekly series via Zoom. Travel support is budgeted (during their first year only) to cover fellows’ attendance at the NSF Cybersecurity Summit, ducause CPPC, and one professional development opportunity agreed to with Trusted CI. The Fellows will be added to an email list to discuss any challenges they encounter that will receive prioritized attention from Trusted CI staff. Trusted CI will recognize the Fellows on its website and social media. Fellowships are funded for one year, after which the Trusted CI Fellows will be encouraged to continue participating in Trusted CI activities in the years following their fellowship year. After their training in the Virtual Institute, Fellows, with assistance from the Trusted CI team, are expected to help their science community with cybersecurity and make them aware of Trusted CI for complex needs. By the end of the year, they will be expected to present or write a short white paper on the cybersecurity needs of their community and some initial steps they will take (or have taken) to address these needs. After the Fellowship year Trusted CI will continue to recognize the cohort of Fellows and give them prioritized attention. Over the years, this growing cohort of Fellows will broaden and diversify Trusted CI’s impact.
About the Trusted CI Fellows Program
Trusted CI serves the scientific community as the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, providing leadership in and assistance in cybersecurity in the support of research. In 2019, Trusted CI establish an Open Science Cybersecurity Fellows program. This program establishes and support a network of Fellows with diversity in both geography and scientific discipline. These fellows will have access to training and other resources to foster their professional development in cybersecurity. In exchange, they will champion cybersecurity for science in their scientific and geographic communities and communicate challenges and successful practices to Trusted CI.
Fellows come from a variety of career stages. They demonstrate a passion for their area, the ability to communicate ideas effectively, and a real interest in the role of cybersecurity in research. Fellows are empowered to talk about cybersecurity to a wider audience, network with others who share a passion for cybersecurity for open science and learn key skills that benefit them and their collaborators.