Purdue CS Security Professors and Collaborators Join CyManII

11-23-2020

In a collaboration of Purdue researchers, professors in the Department of Computer Science and members of CERIAS; Antonio Bianchi, Ananth Grama, Aniket Kate, Dave Tian and Dongyan Xu join the national Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) to improve cybersecurity and energy efficiency for American manufacturing.

Purdue joins 24 universities in the effort, which will develop tools, technologies and guidance for securing manufacturing, supply chains, factory automation and information, and for manufacturing workforce development. Purdue is one of five founding university members of CyManII; the University of Texas at San Antonio will lead the $110 million national effort. The effort is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

U.S. manufacturing is increasingly using emerging electronic and cyber technologies, such as microprocessors, microelectronic sensors and networks that have the potential to introduce new cybersecurity vulnerabilities, said Theresa Mayer, Purdue’s executive vice president for research and partnerships, who also sits on the governance board of CyManII.

"The Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute will speed the adoption of next-generation technologies because there will be fewer concerns about security threats," she said. "This will give the United States a competitive advantage and also provide support for national security."

Purdue's participation will be directed by Dongyan Xu, director of CERIAS and the Samuel Conte Professor of Computer Science, who said understanding evolving technology threats will help secure automation and supply chain systems by giving workers the tools they need.

"This national consortium will not only share new information and technologies with manufacturers but will also address the need for education, training and workforce development. These are critical skills needed for advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity,” Xu said.

In addition to Xu, Purdue faculty members who also contributed to the founding of CyManII are: 

Antonio Bianchi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science

Ananth Grama, the Samuel D. Conte Professor of Computer Science.

Nathan Hartman, the Dauch Family Professor of Advanced Manufacturing, director of the Digital Enterprise Center and co-executive director of the Indiana Next-generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (IN-MaC).

Aniket Kate, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science

Joel Rasmus, managing director, CERIAS.

John Sutherland, the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, and professor of mechanical engineering.

Dave Tian, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science

Chenn Zhou, Purdue Northwest's NIPSCO Distinguished Professor of Engineering Simulation.

About Purdue University

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Writer, Media contact: Steve Tally, steve@purdue.edu. @sciencewriter

Source: Xu, dxu@purdue.edu