George Mason University has numerous departments, research centers, and labs focused on cybersecurity in addition to its AI2 Nexus initiative and partnerships with state and federal agencies such as the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) and the All-In-Gov Council.

Key departments in the College of Engineering and Computing include:

• Cybersecurity Engineering Department (CYSE)
• Information Science & Technology Department (IST)
• Data Analytics Engineering Department (DAEN)
• Computer Science Department (CS)
• Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)

Key Research Centers, Labs, & Institutes include:

• Center for Secure Information Systems (CSIS)
• Center of Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber and Intelligence (C5I)
•  Institute of Digital InnovAtion (IDIA)
• NSI Cyber and Technology Center (CTC)
• Sun Security Laboratory (SunLab)
• Center for Assurance Research and Engineering (CARE)
• Center for Cybersecurity Analytics and Automation (CCAA)
• Center for Trusted, Accelerated, and Secure Computing and Communication (C-TASC)
• Wireless Cyber Center (WirelessCyber@Mason)
• Center for Assurance Research and Engineering (CARE)

I am a Professor and the Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology at George Mason University, and I serve as the Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA) and the Director of the Center for Infrastructure Security in the Era of AI (ISEAI). I received my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2005 from the University of Naples Federico II. In 2011, I joined George Mason University after serving as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park.

My research interests are in the area of Information and Network Security, with a particular emphasis on Modeling and Detection of Cyber Attacks, Cyber Situational Awareness, Network Hardening, Moving Target Defense, Configuration Security, and Vulnerability Metrics. I have participated in sponsored projects totaling $13M, with my personal share amounting to $3.5M. I hold six U.S. patents and have co-authored two books as well as over 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. In 2014, I was honored as one of the three recipients of the Mason Emerging Researcher/Scholar/Creator Award, one of the most prestigious honors at Mason.

I have served on the technical program committee of numerous conferences and am a member of the Editorial Board of Springer International Journal of Information Security, Elsevier Co

Source: Website

Vision

The Institute of Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) is George Mason University’s commitment to inclusively shaping the future of our digital society, promoting well-being, security, and prosperity.

IDIA is a sector leader that provides transdisciplinary research, innovation, and next-generation workforce development strategy across the university for scaled, sustainable growth in digital innovation, leverages synergies, strengthening the innovation ecosystem and growing capacities for transdisciplinary research, scholarship, and innovation, supports placemaking, instigating and building research and innovation communities around places and activating and supporting a culture of transdisciplinary research and shared research infrastructure, and amplifies the visibility and awareness of George Mason University as a globally recognized leader for its world-class research, innovation, and economic impact activities, as well as its next-generation students and scholars.

Sushil Jajodia is a University Professor, BDM International Professor, and the founding director of the Center for Secure Information Systems in the College of Engineering and Computing. He is also the founding site director of the NSF IUCRC Center for Configuration Analytics and Automation at Mason. His research interests include security, privacy, databases, and distributed systems. His current research sponsors are the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO), the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), The U.S. National Security Administration (NSA), The National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Northrop Grumman, and The MITRE Corporation.

He was recognized for the most accepted papers at the 30th anniversary of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. His h-index is 86 and Erdös number is 2; both indicate a broad citation in scholarly publishing. He is the founding consulting editor of the Springer International Series on Advances in Information Security and SpringerBriefs in Computer Science. He has served in different capacities for various journals and conferences. Sushil Jajodia has supervised 27 doctoral dissertations.

Source: GMU webpage

Build a community within George Mason University that promotes women’s education, participation, and leadership in the field of cybersecurity. They WiCyS Student Chapter shall be familiar with the and abide by the Academic Institution’s student organization bylaws, policies, and procedures.

“Recruit, retain and advance women in cybersecurity to build a robust cybersecurity workforce.”

Cybersecurity Engineering student, University Scholar, and WiCyS student chapter president at GMU. I’m passionate about developing innovative security solutions and researching emerging cyber threats.

Proven through my personal projects and academic work, I’m skilled in languages like Python, C, and JavaScript, and applications like Wireshark and Splunk. Always looking for an opportunity to make a positive impact.

Source: LinkedIn

Liza Wilson Durant serves as the associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement at George Mason University and professor and associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement in the College of Engineering and Computing.

She works to build meaningful partnerships across the university with external corporate, government, academic, non-profit, and global entities to support the mission of Mason’s strategic objectives.

Prior to her appointment as associate provost, she served as chair of the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, where she has been a faculty member since 2010.

She received her BS and MS degrees from Cornell University and Stanford University respectively, and her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Shawn Purvis serves as President and CEO of Sabel Systems, part of the Sagewind Capital Portfolio. As CEO of Sabel Systems, Ms. Purvis is responsible for all aspects of Sabel’s growth, M&A, product development and people strategy. Sabel is a leading provider of digital engineering, acquisition, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics solutions.  Shawn has recently been named as a member of the George Mason University Board of Visitors through June 30, 2029.

Over the course of Shawn’s 30 years of P&L responsibilities, she has led billion dollar organizations in the areas of defense, intelligence and cyber security technical solutions in support of the warfighter and intelligence customers both domestically and globally. Ms. Purvis has in-depth skills in driving strategy, policy, corporate strategic campaigns and financial/non-financial goals across the company. She actively participates in corporate governance in areas of risks, benefits, cyber and policies and engagements with the Board of Directors. She has a passion for customer service and delivery in support of our nation’s most critical missions.