Cybersecurity research just entails clicking away on a computer all day and night, right?

On the contrary: The student researchers presenting their projects at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) Student Researcher Showcase in early April highlighted teamwork and collaboration as they electrified the room with pizzazz, innovation, and collaboration. The presenters represented the 200 student researchers working on CCI-supported projects across the region.

Gears turned and charisma radiated throughout the room as students presented their ongoing cyber-related research projects to a room of research advisors, professors, industry professionals, and students from Virginia Tech, Radford University, and other institutions across Southwest Virginia.

“Students in Southwest Virginia are doing exceptional research investigating both today’s cybersecurity problems and the challenges we’re likely to face as a nation in the years to come,” said Greg Caufman, senior director of strategic delivery and university engagement at Peraton Inc., who served as a showcase poster judge. “The projects I saw at the showcase have clear relevance to Peraton’s business.”

Projects spanned a range of disciplines and research areas, including artificial intelligence, power and energy, satellite security, and more. The one thing all the projects had in common? They allowed students to get deep hands-on research experience in cybersecurity.

“This year's showcase was all about celebrating the brilliant work that is going on across the region,"  said Arianna Schuler Scott, CCI Southwest Virginia’s associate director for outreach. "It was a real joy to experience students pitching their projects in a fast-paced showcase environment.” 

A large group of students interacting, gesticulating
Student researchers discuss the work they are doing to advance cybersecurity across fields and disciplines. Photo by Kelly Izlar for Virginia Tech.

At the showcase

The following student researchers were among those who presented at the showcase:

  • Samson Adeoye, graduate researcher in agricultural, leadership, and community education at Virginia Tech, presented his research on creating an agricultural cybersecurity workforce development program in an increasingly digitized landscape.

    “CCI has provided an opportunity for me to work in interdisciplinary research teams,” Adeoye said. “This is an invaluable career development endeavor for me as working to address complex problems like cybersecurity must involve multifaceted approaches."

  • Miles Frantz and Tanmoy Pias, both graduate researchers in computer science at Virginia Tech, presented their Cryptolation program that detects cryptographic misuse in complex Python code.

    “The most exciting aspect of my cybersecurity research is the fact that it is used to fix vulnerabilities before they are exposed to anyone malicious,” Frantz said. “My engagement with CCI has helped prepare me to make more of my research user-friendly and accessible to the public.”

  • Ardavan Mohammadhassani, graduate researcher in electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech, and Victor Mukora, a Virginia Tech senior majoring in computational modeling and data analytics, presented their research on improving microgrid performance and strengthening its resiliency to cyberattacks.

    “Doing CCI research has opened and diversified my experience to not only see the value in pursuing innovation in the energy sector, but practically applying that within a microgrid system and ensuring sound cybersecurity behind such efforts,” Mukora said.
Two students smile at the camera
Virginia Tech students Kaushiki Valluri (at left), a senior majoring in computer engineering, and Pavan Hemanth, a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, received a Best Poster Award at the CCI Student Researcher Showcase. Photo by Chelsea Seeber for Virginia Tech.

The poster awards were split into two categories: best poster and people’s choice, with three winning projects per category.

Best poster awards

  • Aravind Cheruvu and Connor Weeks, both graduate researchers in computer science
    College/university: College of Engineering, Virginia Tech
    Research advisor: Bimal Viswanath
    Poster title: Investigating toxicity in open-domain chatbots
    Research focus: Filtering the behavior of chatbots to maintain a safe and secure online chatbot environment.
  • Kaushiki Valluri, a senior majoring in computer engineering, and Pavan Hemanth, a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering
    College/university: College of Engineering, Virginia Tech
    Research advisor: Carl Dietrich
    Poster title: Real-time leader-follower swarming and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) communications
    Research focus: Controlling several UAVs using one singular ground controller.
  • Yubo Wu, a graduate researcher in electrical and computer engineering
    College/university: College of Engineering, Virginia Tech
    Research advisor:  Tom Hou
    Poster title: Interference mitigation for automotive radar
    Research focus: Mitigating automotive radar interference
Four students holding CCI water bottles smile broadly at the camera
(From left) Humaid Desai, a Virginia Tech graduate student in computer science with Radford University students Tanner Ketron, a senior majoring in cybersecurity; Samuel Williams, a junior majoring in computer science; and Brittany Kilgore, a junior majoring in forensic science and technology. The Radford-Virginia Tech team received a People's Choice Award at the CCI showcase.

People’s Choice Awards:

  • Keshawn Brooks, Tanner Ketron, both seniors majoring in cybersecurity; Samuel Williams, a junior majoring in computer science; and Humaid Desai, graduate researcher in computer science
    College/university: Radford University (Brooks, Ketron, and Williams) and College of Engineering, Virginia Tech (Desai)
    Research advisors: Amr Hilal, Premchand Uppuluri
    Poster title: Who's watching you? A data science approach to user privacy and ad tracking
    Research focus: Developing scenarios to create traceable data with the goal of arming the common user with ways to keep their information private online
  • Medha Durisheti, a sophomore majoring in computational modeling and data analytics
    College/university: College of Science, Virginia Tech
    Research advisor: Gretchen Matthews
    Poster title: Secure, distributed computing with adversaries
    Research focus: Completing computations without any colluding servers being able to discern the information, and achieving computations that are correct despite dishonest servers
  • Ming Zhu, a graduate researcher in computer science
    College/university: College of Engineering, Virginia Tech
    Research advisors: Daphne Yao, Ismini Lourenzou
    Poster title: Multi-task self-training with static and dynamic analysis for semi-supervised code translation
    Research focus:  Achieving advanced coding capabilities with much less computation and data resources to make automated coding more accessible and customizable

Written by Julia Tubridy, science communication intern for the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia node

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