After helping to develop the Systems Engineering and Cyber Security Engineering programs at George Mason, Professor Peggy Brouse has received the 2023 David J. King Award.

A member of the Mason nation for over three decades, Brouse joined the university as a PhD student in Information Technology (incidentally, the first program of its kind in the U.S.). After working as a systems engineer at MITRE for nine years, she started a research lab studying requirements engineering at Mason. She notes that while she enjoys research, has published widely, and has graduated many PhD students, her love as always been “in the teaching arena.”

“When I was teaching was when I really lit up,” she recalls. So, when Dean Andrew Sage approached Brouse roughly thirty years ago about starting a Systems Engineering department at Mason, she was happy to help develop the curriculum. She helped create the Systems Engineering bachelor’s degree program and went on to create the first bachelor’s degree program in Cyber Security Engineering in the country. She currently enjoys a split appointment between the Systems Engineering and Operations Research department and the Cyber Security Engineering department.

Brouse (on right) with Provost Mark Ginsburg accepting the David J. King Award.
Not only must nominees for the David J. King award be at Mason a minimum of 20 years, but they also must meet a host of other criteria. The award, created in 2001, carries on the legacy of former Vice President for Academic Affairs David J. King and recognizes the work of an excellent teacher whose research has brought honor to Mason and whose work has enhanced the student experience at an institutional level.

“It wasn’t a real dry speech; it was emotional for me,” Brouse says of her speech at the award ceremony. Several members of her family including her daughter Becky Brouse and sister, Robin West, were in attendance, along with what Brouse described as an eclectic group of colleagues from across the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC). In her speech, Brouse thanked her support system.

“You don’t get anywhere without other people being a big part of that, and a lot of that is my family,” says Brouse, adding, “I’ve been so blessed to have just amazing colleagues.” Colleagues she mentioned include the CEC’s Director of Undergraduate Academic Advising, DaFran Ware; Director of IT and Security, Jonathan Goldman; associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Director of the Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center, Jim Jones; and professor of cyber security engineering and computer science Duminda Wijesekera. In addition, she acknowledged the impactful work of Paulo Costa, a longtime colleague and the chair of the Cyber Security Engineering department, and both Becca Stevenson and Lori Stevenson, the academic advisors for the department.

Brouse with other Teacher Excellence Award winners
During the ceremony, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development Kim Eby asked Brouse to share some advice with fellow educators. In addition to treating students fairly—for example, by grading assignments anonymously—Brouse suggested an exercise that has been especially fruitful with students in her senior seminars for both systems and cyber security engineering: an end-of-semester curriculum review.

“We ask them [students], ‘What did we do that we could do better?’,” she said. Brouse has worked to change both programs several times based on feedback from this exercise. She encourages fellow faculty to remain open to student feedback. “Whatever you’ve done, the fact is that these students are our future. They’re the ones that actually know a lot more than they’re given credit for.” She adds, “That doesn’t mean you have to take all their ideas, but they’ve come up with ideas we never would have thought of as faculty members.”

In the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity, the integration of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) is a game-changer. While offering immense potential for positive applications, these tools also pose significant risks if misused. Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor at the Department of Cyber Security Engineering at George Mason University, is spearheading a project to use generative AI and LLMs to better identify the very threats they pose.  

The project is a collaborative effort between George Mason and the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Northern Virginia Node. Gebril, along with VMI’s Sherif Abdelhamid, is assembling a team including master’s and undergraduate students to assist with research and is preparing educational workshops to introduce high school and middle school students to the research topic. Gebril’s approach aims to equip future cybersecurity professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle emerging threats.

Automating threat detection

The initiative aims to leverage the power of AI to enhance threat detection and response mechanisms, ultimately making cybersecurity operations more efficient and effective. One of the primary advantages of using AI in cybersecurity is its ability to automate processes that were traditionally manual and time-consuming. Harnessing the beneficial aspects of generative AI for threat-hunting operations involves detecting malicious activities and monitoring data logs in real-time.

“AI has been very helpful in automating this process instead of doing it manually,” Gebril explained. “It can generate the alerts, automate the notifications, and make the instant response.” By automating these tasks, organizations can respond to threats more quickly and efficiently, reducing the potential damage caused by cyberattacks.

Preparing for prompt-injection attacks

A significant challenge in the realm of AI-driven cybersecurity is the threat of prompt-injection attacks, which involve malicious actors using AI prompts to generate harmful outputs, such as malware, said Gebril. His core objective is to create mechanisms for detecting malicious intent, particularly in prompts that are subtle and indirect.

“What we’re hoping to get out of this project is to be able to develop a novel method, a novel mechanism, to detect such malicious intent that is meant to be used or developed by indirect prompt injection attacks,” Gebril said. This involves using advanced AI techniques, such as fuzzy reasoning and deep learning, to analyze and interpret data in real-time.

By leveraging the power of AI, Gebril and his team are working to create more robust and effective threat detection systems, ultimately contributing to a safer digital landscape.

George Mason University Cybersecurity Engineering associate professor Mohamed Gebril led a team of students to the first-ever BattleDrone competition, an exercise coordinated through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

In April, Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor in George Mason University’s Cyber Security Engineering Department, took a team of students into “battle.” The team traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a BattleDrones Competition that was hosted by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park.

Gebril emphasized that the inaugural battle was not really a competition but a learning experience. CCI began working on this competition in 2020, but the pandemic halted its progress. This was the first time the event was held.

“It was not a competition per se. All the teams worked together to get this project off the ground,” said Gebril, who teaches in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. “CCI-VT ran into some issues with some of the computer vision tools, but overall it was a great learning experience.”

The main objective of the competition, according to Gebril, was to have student teams assemble their own drones with materials provided by CCI-VT research group, as well as promote interest in these kinds of activities among younger students.

For the competition, Gebril pulled together a team of Mason cyber security engineering majors interested in hands-on opportunities, which included senior Kylie Amison, senior Corrado Apostolakis, senior Brandon Henry, junior Casey Cho, sophomore Zaid Osta, and Mahmoud Zaghloul, an area high school student.

By all accounts, it was a successful trip.

“The team did really well,” Gebril said. “They were able to assemble the drone successfully. We are also working on continuing this project by adding cybersecurity features to enhance this learning experience.”

Will they compete again?

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “Our students love this project and how it applies concepts learned in classrooms toward this hands-on activity.”

CCI is a network of Virginia industry, higher education, and economic development partners dedicated to cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development. Mason leads the Northern Virginia Node of the network.