FIU’s Applied Research Center launches its Cyberspace Technology Testing and Training Center (CT3C)

The Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) launched its new Cyberspace Technology Testing and Training Center (CT3C) during an inaugural ribbon cutting ceremony held on March 18th, 2014, led by FIU Provost & Executive Vice President, Dr. Douglas Wartzok and the Principal Deputy Director of the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), Mr. G. Derrick Hinton, SES.

 

Following the inaugural ribbon-cutting, six (6) FIU STEM students were inducted as “Cyber Fellows” into the Cyberspace Workforce Development Program, which is headed by Program Director and ARC Director of Research, Dr. Leonel Lagos. Keynote speakers at the induction ceremony included Dr. Kenneth Furton, Dean of FIU’s College of Arts & Sciences, Mr. Derrick Hinton, SES, Principal Deputy Director of TRMC, Mr. James Hutchinson, Director of the Scientific Research Corporation (SRC) and Dr. Inés Triay, ARC’s Executive Director. In addition, two of the newly inducted Cyber Fellows, Mr. Christopher Lopez and Ms. Silvia Vidaurre, inspired the group present by sharing their summer
internship experiences sponsored by the DOD’s TRMC. FIU alumnus and former U.S. Department of Energy Fellow, Ms. Alessandra Monetti, who is now an engineer with the Scientific Research Corporation, also addressed the crowd, sharing her experience as an FIU STEM student performing applied research at ARC.

 

The goal of the CT3C is to support the Department of Defense (DOD) – Test Resource Management Center 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 has entered into an agreement with TRMC to set up a node for testing cyberspace technologies used in Contact Information: Leonel E. Lagos, LagosL@fiu.edu Director of Research, Applied Research Center defense networks and systems. The agreement is divided into four phases over a one-year performance period.

ARC performs sponsored research in the areas of cyberspace architectures and frameworks, multi-agent systems for network monitoring and control, visualization concepts and technologies, cyber resilience, reliability, efficiency, information security management and data anomalies. This research allows for the training and mentoring of FIU STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) minority undergraduate and graduate students with diverse technical backgrounds. Cyberspace security areas include firewall management, intrusion detection/prevention systems, security monitoring, log monitoring/retention, vulnerability management, and unified threat management.

Cyberspace Technology Research

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. The Center counts with industry experts and infrastructure to support applied research in the areas of cyberspace and information assurance (IA) test technology development and gap analysis. These cyberspace technologies have applications within the Test & Evaluation/Science & Technology (T&E/S&T) portfolio:

• Testing & Evaluation of Cyberspace technologies at CT3C Test bed lab
• Gap Analysis of Cyberspace test technologies
• Threat Analysis and Penetration Testing
• Real Time Monitoring and Forensics
• Malicious Software Analysis
• Net-Centric suite of tools for Interoperability T&E Capabilities.

ARC has set up a cyberspace lab to support DOD’s TRMC in the areas of cyberspace and IA test technology development. The cyberspace lab is used for the following activities:

• Design and development of a cyber-test bed
• Establish a TRMC node by connecting to the Joint Mission Environment Test Capability
  (JMETC) and NST Technology Integration Environment (TIE) laboratory
• Identify and assess technologies for testing and evaluation (T&E) of cyber ranges [e.g., Emulab
  used in the National Cyber Range (NCR)]

 

Cyberspace Workforce Development

In an effort to develop expertise in cyber security and developing a cyber security workforce, ARC has engaged FIU STEM minority students in the areas of cyber space technology testing research work. This cyber training program provides hands on research and internship opportunities to FIU students. The objective of this workforce development program is to create a “pipeline” of minority scientists and engineers specifically trained and mentored to enter the DOD’s workforce in technical areas of cybersecurity need. The Cyberspace Workforce Development Program has the following components:

• Actively recruit top minority students at FIU to apply for the Cyber Security Workforce
  Development Program;
• Provide selected FIU students at undergraduate and graduate levels with hands-on training
  and research opportunities related to cyber security research;
• Provide qualified FIU faculty and/or professional ARC staff mentors to the students to guide
  their training and research;
• Improve retention of minority students by exposing undergraduate students to cyber security
  research and encourage the students to pursue masters degrees at FIU;
• Provide tuition waivers to graduate students participating in this program;
• Facilitate the development of thesis research topics based on research being conducted under
  this program;
• Encourage and facilitate students to present their research findings at local and national cyber
  security conferences;
• Secure summer internships at DOD facilities and/or DOD contractor locations for students
  participating in the program.

During the summer of 2013, ARC selected and placed six (6) FIU STEM students for cyber security research internships sponsored by the DOD’s TRMC. This agreement included four internships at the Point Mugu Naval base in Southern California and two internships at Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta (GTRI). These six internships were made possible under an agreement between FIU’s ARC and DOD’s TRMC, the agency that oversees DOD’s test infrastructure and invests in technologies to test new military equipment (from fighter aircraft to computers) before they are deployed and used in the field. These students will continue performing cyberspace research work at ARC’s Cyberspace Technology Testing and Training Center, sponsored by TRMC.

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