![Natalie Scala](/sites/sos-vo.org/files/pictures/2024-01/scala-natalie-sq.jpg)
Dr. Natalie M. Scala is a professor in the College of Business and Economics, a fellow of the Center for Interdisciplinary and Innovative Cybersecurity, and the director of accelerated programs at Towson University. She earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary research is in decision analysis, with specialization in military and security issues, including risk in voting systems, attack trees and strength of threat in mail voting, integrity of votes throughout the supply chain, poll worker education, and cybersecurity metrics and best practices. She co-directs the Empowering Secure Elections research lab, which defines threats to voting as systemic and an interplay between cyber, physical, and insider sources. Her work in elections security earned a University System of Maryland Board of Regents Award for Excellence in Public Service, the system’s highest faculty honor. In conjunction with Anne Arundel County, Maryland, her work in cybersecurity and threat training for poll workers received a U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Clearinghouse Award for Outstanding Innovation in Election Cybersecurity and Technology. Dr. Scala frequently consults to government clients and has extensive professional experience, to include positions with Innovative Decisions, Inc. / ITA International, the United States Department of Defense, and the RAND Corporation, as well as a faculty affiliation with the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security. She has previously served as the director of the graduate programs in supply chain management at Towson University. She co-edited the Handbook of Military and Defense Operations Research and Mathematics in Cyber Research, both released by CRC Press in 2020 and 2022, respectively. The second edition of the Handbook is scheduled to be released in 2025. She is an associate editor for Military Operations Research and is a Past President of the Military and Security Society of INFORMS.