FIU Awarded Cybersecurity Research Contract from DoD’s Test Resource Management Center

The Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) was recently awarded a contract to support the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) in its mission to plan, assess and test cyberspace technology development, acquisition, fielding, and sustainment of defense systems for the Major Range and Test Facility Base (MRTFB).

ARC hosted a post-award conference and kick-off meeting on June 30, 2016, at their facilities in Miami, FL. The kickoff meeting included representatives from TRMC (Washington, DC), the Cyber Test Technology team (Eglin Air Force Base), PEO-STRI (Orlando, Florida), FIU faculty and FIU’s Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED). The scope of work for the newly awarded 18-month contract from TRMC includes development of a Security Agent testbed and a Kernel Q testbed as well as a demonstration of a control center with integrated Security Agent and Kernel Q modules.

New TRMC post-award conference and kick-off meeting

ARC has developed the Cyberspace Technology Testing & Training Center (CT3C) to perform cyberspace technology research and testing as well as provide workforce development through a multi-disciplinary STEM program at FIU. ARC has established the CT3C facility with state-of-the-art servers, security tools and network infrastructure to simulate, monitor and provide response to real life security threats. CT3C optimizes resource allocation as well as monitors and provisions for proactive threat prevention to mitigate network and infrastructure risks. CT3C consists of three major areas: Cyberspace Test Technology Research, Cyberspace Lab and Cyberspace Workforce Development.

ARC performs multi-disciplinary cyberspace technology applied research in partnership and collaboration with FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing and College of Arts & Sciences. ARC works with industry experts and infrastructure to support applied research in the areas of cyberspace and information assurance, test technology analysis, development and testing. These cyberspace technologies have applications within the Test & Evaluation/Science & Technology (T&E/S&T) portfolio of TRMC. Cyberspace focus areas include Testing & Evaluation of Cyberspace Technologies, Malware Monitoring & Analysis, Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Machine Learning, Cyber Analytics and Visualization.

In parallel, ARC has also developed a unique STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workforce development program to train and mentor FIU minority students in the area of cyberspace technologies. ARC works closely with TRMC and FIU faculty to identify and recruit talented FIU STEM students (Cyber Fellows) from relevant engineering and computer science disciplines to support the research being conducted at ARC and participate in summer internships at TRMC facilities across the US. Since 2013, eighteen FIU students have participated in 10-week cyberspace internships at Point Mugu Naval Base in Southern California; Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida; Eglin Airforce Base in Orlando, Florida; the National Cyber Range in Orlando, Florida, and Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. A total of 18 FIU STEM students have participated in summer internships facilitated by TRMC. As of today a total of 5 FIU Cyber Fellows have obtained employment with Lockheed Martin (Orlando and Maryland) as a direct result of participation in the summer internships and the FIU program.

Cyber Fellows with Dr. Himanshu Upadhyay (left) and Dr. Leo Lagos (right); CT3C Lab

Comments are closed.