USF professors will receive funding through the Florida Center for Cybersecurity’s Collaborative Seed Award Program
TAMPA, Fla. (March 6, 2017) – Six cybersecurity researchers from the University of South Florida will each receive $50,000 grants, the Florida Center for Cybersecurity (FC2) announced today. The awards are part of FC2’s 2016-2017 Collaborative Seed Award Program – an initiative that provides funding to cybersecurity research teams from across the State University System (SUS) of Florida. A total of $600,000 will fund 12 projects from nine state universities. USF researchers are involved in half of the projects receiving grant funds.
“A key objective of FC2 is to encourage collaboration on cybersecurity research projects to advance new technologies and solutions,” said Sri Sridharan, director at FC2. “Through these efforts, we hope to grow a research-oriented culture that will position Florida as a leader in cyber research and attract industry as well.”
Since this program began in 2014-2015, FC2 has awarded more than $1 million to SUS research teams. 2016-17 awardees from USF include:
Resilience and Mission Assurance of Intelligent Machines for Secure Internet of Things
Kwang-Cheng Chen, Principal Investigator (PI), USF
Zhihua Qu, Co-PI, University of Central Florida
Software-defined Overlay Virtual Networks – Enforcing Private Device-to-Device Communication through Social Contexts
Renato Figueiredo, PI, University of Florida
Adriana Iamnitchi, Co-PI, USF
Collaborative Authentication for the Internet of Things
Jay Ligatti, PI, USF
Daniela Oliveira, Co-PI, University of Florida
Cybersecurity Protection for Software Defined Networking Applying Machine Learning
Alexander Perez-Pons, PI, Florida International University
Nasir Ghani, Co-PI, USF
Proactive Defense Against Cyber-Physical Smart Grid Attacks
Yufei Tang, PI, Florida Atlantic University
Zhuo Lu, Co-PI, USF
Resilient Smart Grid Control for Load Switching Cyber Attacks
Zhixin Miao, PI, USF
My T. Thai, Co-PI, University of Florida
For more details about the Collaborative Seed Award Program, click here.
About the Florida Center for Cybersecurity
Created during the 2014 legislative session, the Florida Center for Cybersecurity (FC²) is a shared resource for cybersecurity research, education and outreach across the state and beyond. The Center fosters collaboration between higher education, government, defense and business communities to share knowledge, resources and training opportunities that help mitigate cybersecurity threats and create opportunities for innovative solutions. Located at the University of South Florida, FC² is leading efforts to position Florida as a national leader in cybersecurity. For more information, call (813) 974-2604 or email FC2@usf.edu.
About the University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, established in 1956 and located in Tampa, is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three, separately accredited institutions: USF; USF St. Petersburg; and USF Sarasota-Manatee. Serving more than 49,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.6 billion and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion. USF is ranked in the Top 30 nationally for research expenditures among public universities, according to the National Science Foundation. In 2016, the Florida Legislature designated USF as “Emerging Preeminent,” placing USF in an elite category among the state’s 12 public universities. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference.