"Students Bring Spark, Power and Drive to Cybersecurity Research"

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), led by Virginia Tech, is Virginia's primary access point for cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development. Radford University, the University of Virginia's College at Wise, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech, and a network of community colleges comprise the Southwest Virginia node of CCI. CCI student researchers receive training on cutting-edge projects with vertically integrated teams, in which they develop skills. According to Gretchen Matthews, Virginia Tech math professor and director of CCI in Southwest Virginia, student researchers motivate and power CCI's overarching mission as they learn. The CCI in Southwest Virginia supported 132 students engaged in cybersecurity research projects and 59 undergraduates in experiential learning opportunities at institutions across the region in fiscal year 2022. Throughout October, the Southwest Virginia node has highlighted CCI student researchers on social media as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. For example, one student named Naru Jai was highlighted for her research focus on supporting multi-scale latency services and security enhancement for 5G/Next-G. The Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band has a frequency range of 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently governs the use of this bandwidth through a three-tiered architecture that serves different levels of users. Spectrum Access System (SAS), a cloud-based service, is in charge of the band's operation and management. Channel allocation for different levels of users is a major challenge in realizing the full potential of the CBRS band. SAS aims to maximize spectrum efficiency while also ensuring interference resilience. This problem involves a complex mathematical formulation with a large search space for an optimal solution. Jai and her research team devised a solution to this problem by considering the US Navy's shipborne radars as incumbent users along Virginia's coast. Jai's team demonstrated that an optimal solution can be found within the timing requirements set by the FCC by conducting simulation experiments with real-world CBRS maps and Dynamic Protection Areas along Virginia's east coast. This article continues to discuss the work of CCI student researchers for cybersecurity advancement. 

Augusta Free Press reports "Students Bring Spark, Power and Drive to Cybersecurity Research"