By Assefaw Gebremedhin and James Crabb
The VICEROY CySER Summer Workshop 2025 ran from May 19 to May 23, with a check-in and mixer event being held May 18. A recap of the workshop’s events follows.
Day 1: May 19
Washington State University Voiland College Dean Partha Pande and School of EECS Director Ananth Kalyanaraman welcomed workshop attendees and provided an overview of the college and its mission, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity in all our endeavors. CySER Lead PI Assefaw Gebremedhin discussed cybersecurity programs at WSU and provided an overview of the workshop.
Chester “CJ” Maciag, Director of Cyber Technologies and Academic Outreach at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, delivered an excellent keynote address, setting the tone for the workshop and contextualizing the broader mission of the VICEROY program.
CySER Program Coordinator James Crabb presented research on cybersecurity education in the United States.
Aaron Darnton, CTO at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport, discussed operations and opportunities at NUWC Keyport.
WSU Murrow College of Communication Assistant Professor Jennifer Henrichsen gave a compelling presentation on the rise of digital repression and its impact on journalism and democracy. The day concluded with a poster session showcasing research completed by VICEROY CySER students in the spring 2025 semester, mentored by graduate students and faculty advisors. This mentored research is part of the extensive training CySER students receive in addition to their coursework. More than 20 students were awarded certificates in recognition of completing their first year in the program.
Day 2: May 20
The morning session featured a hands-on experiential learning activity on cyber-physical systems security, led by WSU Cybersecurity Assistant Professor Monowar Hasan and his team of graduate students. The 2.5-hour session was met with enthusiastic participation from CySER students.
The afternoon began with Oregon State University EECS Associate Professor Rakesh Bobba delivering a fascinating presentation on usable and practical image privacy. He guided attendees through several research projects focused on developing encryption schemes that preserve privacy while maintaining usability.
WSU Associate Professor of Computer Science Thomas Gilray, an expert in programming languages, followed with a talk on software verification using contracts.
Day 3: May 21
The day began with WSU Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Xu Lin, who gave a presentation on the critical topic of web security and privacy.
Yvette Hastings, a PhD candidate at Montana State University working in the Software Engineering and Cybersecurity Laboratory, led an excellent hands-on session on digital forensics. She first covered foundational concepts in an accessible manner before running an engaging Capture-the-Flag (CTF) exercise.
The afternoon was designated “PNNL Day,” as a team of three cybersecurity experts from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) traveled to WSU to present in person.
- Joseph Aguayo, Deputy CISO at PNNL, delivered an insightful and engaging presentation titled Incident Commander’s Guide to Cybersecurity Strategy, emphasizing the human factors involved in effective strategy.
- Dave Stone, cybersecurity engineer at PNNL, presented on securing AI using large language models (LLMs), incorporating compelling demonstrations and examples of social engineering.
- Mahantesh Halappanavar, Group Lead for PNNL’s Machine Intelligence Group, discussed a framework for automatically mapping vulnerabilities to attack patterns using AI. His talk covered knowledge graphs, pattern detection, MITRE frameworks, and the role of LLMs.
Day 4: May 22
The morning featured a field trip to the Pullman campus of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL). Our host, Kelsey Cummings, Lead University Relations Partner at SEL, welcomed attendees and introduced a panel featuring four SEL professionals. Panelists discussed their roles, career paths, teamwork, hiring perspectives, and strategies for career success. Attendees asked many thoughtful questions and received valuable insights.
After the panel, participants were divided into three groups for a guided tour of SEL’s power grid component manufacturing facilities. Each guide provided clear explanations of processes across various departments.
The afternoon session included four technical talks:
- Muhammad Ismail, Associate Professor at Tennessee Technological University and Director of the Cybersecurity Education, Research, and Outreach Center, gave a compelling talk on quantum computing, introducing key concepts and showcasing his research in entanglement routing and quantum networks.
- Feng-Hao Liu, Associate Professor in WSU’s School of EECS and an expert in cryptography, presented on post-quantum security, focusing on NIST’s efforts to standardize cryptographic schemes for the post-quantum era.
- Jana Doppa, Associate Professor of Computer Science at WSU EECS, spoke about the security and robustness of time-series machine learning, highlighting methods developed by his team and their applications.
- The day concluded with a practical presentation by Sandi Brabb, Director of Student Services at the WSU Voiland College Student Success Center, titled Getting the Most from Your Internships. Sandi shared actionable tips and best practices for before, during, and after internships to help students make the most of their experiences.
Day 5: May 23
In the morning, workshop attendees took a field trip to Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories’ Moscow, Idaho campus to tour SEL’s new printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing site. There, they observed the step-by-step, layer-by-layer process of PCB production.
In the afternoon, an industry panel featuring five cybersecurity professionals from a diverse range of sectors was emceed by Assefaw Gebremedhin and Jennifer Henrichsen. Panelists included:
- Sonja Glumich (Air Force Research Lab)
- Jess Smith (PNNL)
- Nathan Kipp (SEL)
- David Stone (Google)
- Daniel Brown (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency)
Jess and Dan participated in person, while Sonja, Nathan, and David joined virtually. Panelists answered student-submitted questions, discussed their career paths, described a typical day in their roles, and offered practical advice on entering and thriving in the cybersecurity field, building professional networks, and growing both personally and professionally.
The workshop was closed off by Sola Adesope, Professor of Educational Psychology at WSU and Evaluator of the CySER program, who spoke on the topic of lifelong learning and professional development. Adesope also administered a post-workshop feedback survey.