Research

Research Interests and Projects in the Laboratory for Cybersecurity Dynamics

Research Interests

  1. Foundational Research: Cybersecurity Foundation: The Cybersecurity Dynamics Approach (click the link to see the exciting “x-y-z-t coordinate system”)
    1. First-Principle Cybersecurity Modeling and Analysis (the x-axis)
    2. Cybersecurity Data Analytics (the y-axis)
    3. Cybersecurity Metrics (the z-axis; broadly defined to include trust, security, resilience, and agility metrics)
  2. Foundational-Practical Research: Cyber Resilience: Metrics, Models, and Techniques: Leveraging our Cybersecurity Dynamics research (i.e., foundational research) and Cybersecurity Architecture and Mechanisms research (practical research) to systematically tackle the Cyber Resilience problem (as manifested by critical infrastructures and networks) 
  3. Practical Research: Seeking practical solutions, including architectures and mechanisms, in various application domains and use-cases, such as:
    1. Space Cybersecurity
    2. Moving-Target Defense and Deception and Human Factors
    3. Adversarial Machine Learning, especially Adversarial Malware Detection
    4. Bio- and Immune System-inspired Cyber Defense
    5. Security for, and by, Blockchain
    6. IoT and CPS Security
    7. Trustworthy Cloud and Edge Computing (Cryptographic Multi-Party Computing, Storage, Systems)

Funded Projects

  1. PI: DoD NSIN/UC2: Cyber Innovators Challenge Topic 3. Funded by DoD NSIN/UC2 (Sept 2024-)
  2. PI. CR2M: Cyber Risks to Missions Management: Framework, Techniques, and Prototype. Funded by DoD UC2 (Base: Sept 2023-Sept 2025).
  3. PI. VICEROY Virtual Institute. Funded by Griffiss Institute (Base: June 2023-June 2025)
  4. Technical Pillar Lead and UCCS PI. RISE: Regional Innovation Hub Phase I. Funded by NSF (May 2023-April 2025)
  5. UCCS PI. International Alliance for Strengthening Cybersecurity and Privacy in Healthcare. Funded by Norway Research Council (March 2023-Feb 2028).
  6. Co-PI. SHF: Small: Whole-application Coordiated Parallelization Through The Optimization Of Abstraction Hierarchies. Funded by NSF (Oct. 2019-Sept. 2024). PI: Dr. Qing Yi.
  7. Lead PI. CU Next Grant. Funded by University of Colorado System (May 2022-May 2025).
  8. PI. CICI: UCSS: ACSP4HR: Assuring Cyber Security and Privacy for Human Resilience Research: Requirements, Framework, Architecture, Mechanisms and Prototype. Funded by NSF (July 2021 — June 2024). Co-PIs: Charles Benight and Yanyan Zhuang.
  9. Co-PI. SDN/NFV VACUUM: Value-based Access Control Using Untrusted Media. Funded by NSA (August 2021 — July 2023). PI: Gedare Bloom. Other Co-PI: Philip Brown.
  10. Lead PI. Application of Artificial Intelligence to Cybersecurity for Protecting National Critical Infrastructure. 2021-2025, DOE.
    • Since I will be joining UCCS starting 1/1/2021, Dr. Q. Chen (co-PI when the proposal is notified to fund) takes over the Lead PIship (per DOE policy).
  11. PI. NSA OnRampII Grant, 2021
    • I relinquish this one-year project because I will be joining UCCS starting 1/1/2021 (per NSA policy).
  12. PI. B2CSM: Blockchain-Based Cyber Security Management. 2019. Funded by AFRL.
  13. PI. SaTC: CORE: Small: A Framework for Enhancing the Resilience of Cyber Attack Classification and Clustering Mechanisms. Funded by NSF SaTC (October 2018 — September 2021)
  14. PI. MTD Dynamics: A Quantitative Framework for Modeling and Orchestrating Moving-Target Defense. Funded by ARO (August 2017 — February 2021)
  15. PI. Modeling, Analyzing and Predicting Cyber Attacks. Funded by ARL (July 2017 — July 2022)
  16. Co-PI. Enhancing Safety and Security of Clinical Alarm Systems: An interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical-Human Analysis (6/1/2018–5/31/2019). UTSA PI: Dr. G. Chen.
  17. Senior Personnel. NSF CREST Center. Funded by NSF (2017-2022)
  18. PI. Metrics Framework of Trustworthy Systems: Systematization, Ontologies, Measurements, Properties and Theory. Funded by ARO/ARL (May 2016 — August 2017; Phase I)
  19. PI. Cybersecurity Dynamics. Funded by ARO (Sept. 2013 — June 2014; this is a conceptualization project)
  20. PI. A Statistical Framework for Analyzing Cyber Threats. Funded by ARO (June 2013 — May 2016)
  21. PI. A Theoretical Framework for Cyber Defense Operations. Funded by ARO (July 2012 — June 2015)
  22. Co-PI. TC: Large: Collaborative Research: Privacy-Enhanced Secure Data Provenance. Funded by NSF (Sept. 2011 — Aug. 2016)
  23. PI. IAPD: Integrated Adaptive and Proactive Defense against Stealthy Botnets. Funded by AFOSR (March 2009 — Oct. 2012)
  24. Co-PI. AFOSR MURI: A Framework for Managing the Assured Information Sharing Lifecycle (July 2008 — June 2013)
  25. PI. Securing the Smart Power Grid. Funded by UTSA (Sept. 2010 — Aug. 2011)
  26. Co-PI. A Systematic Defense Framework for Combating Botnets. Funded by ONR (April 2009 — Dec. 2010)
  27. PI. Modeling Cyber Attacks. Funded by UTSA (Nov. 2008 — Nov. 2009)
  28. PI. Collaborative Research: Secure Knowledge Management: Models and Mechanisms, funded by NSF CyberTrust (9/1/2005 — 8/31/2009)
  29. PI. SuE: A Framework for Survivable Tactical Information Systems, Funded by Army Research (4/15/2005 — 1/14/2008)
  30. PI. Survivability Analysis for Cryptographic Key Infrastructures in MANETS, Funded by UTSA (9/1/2006 — 12/31/2007)
  31. PI. Countering Malicious and Fast-Spreading Malicious Codes, Funded by UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (6/1/2004 — 8/31/2006) 

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