The U.S. Department of Defense aims to spur a research and training ecosystem at three Texas universities to tackle challenges in cybersecurity for defense applications.

Texas Tech University, along with the University of Texas at San Antonio and Angelo State University, are the recipients of a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a comprehensive research and workforce development program in cybersecurity that will address relevant defense problems.

The proposed program unites a multi-disciplinary team of Texas Tech researchers that includes Executive Director of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Security, Stephen Bayne, and Assistant Dean of Strategic Initiatives, Ranadip Pal, with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; associate professor Abdul Serwadda and assistant professor Tommy Dang with the Department of Computer Science; and Argenis Bilbao, senior director of the Global Laboratory for Energy Asset Management and Manufacturing (GLEAMM). 

These faculty members combine expertise in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), visual analytics, anomaly detection, power systems and energy management to develop new and enhance existing research and training capabilities. The “Research and Workforce Development in the Area of Cybersecurity” project will consider various aspects of cybersecurity research including the following:

• System simulation and attack generation strategies with GLEAMM facilities which will be used as a testbed for system simulation and attack generation.
• Cyber-attack detection, including AI and machine learning techniques, behavioral biometrics, deep fakes detection, federated learning from multiple sources, learning from heterogenous datasets and visualization of systems and anomalies. 
• Strengthening systems and countermeasures with mitigation strategies, cipher design and blockchains. 
• System analysis, visualization and validation which will involve uncertainty quantification of designed intrusion detection approaches, validation of designed techniques of detection and countermeasures using simulators and testbeds.

“The program will be an excellent resource for involved principal investigators and students to get acquainted with DOD needs and develop further research collaborations with the Army Research Laboratory,” Pal noted.