2022 CONCISE Annual Technical Symposium


August 15, 2022, Monday

University of Nevada Las Vegas

Event photos are posted

Please visit the photo pages by clicking the links (page 1 & page 2) on the upper right corner of this page.

DOE/NNSA MSIPP CONCISE Consortium

The Consortium on National Critical Infrastructure Security (CONCISE) is a consortium of 4 Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) that include the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), North Carolina A&T (NCAT) and Savannah State University (SSU). The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/ NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (NNSA) Minority Serving Institution Partnership (MSIPP) grant between 2021 and 2026.

  • CONCISE aims to facilitate AI, blockchain cybersecurity, and improve hardware security in national critical infrastructure.

  • CONCISE partners with Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and Nevada National Security Site (NNSS).

  • CONCISE is creating a sustainable WORKFORCE PIPELINE between the four universities with (at least) three U.S. DOE/NNSA national laboratories (i.e., SNL, INL, and NNSS).

This Annual Symposium is a meeting placed for CONCISE academic and national lab project team members to present research and discuss the project's progress.

  • The 2022 Annual Symposium is held on the UNLV campus on Aug.15th, 2022. It features keynote speeches by industrial experts/national lab researchers, research lightning talks by CONCISE students and a half-day workshop on DOE/NNSS supported Cyber Fire competition/training.

Symposium Agenda

  • 8:15am – 8:45am Check-in / Breakfast

  • 8:45am – 9:00am Welcome and orientation

Prof. Yoohwan Kim, UNLV

Prof. Juyeon Jo. UNLV

  • 9:00am – 9:15am Introduction of project PIs (In-person or remote hybrid)

Prof. Guen Chen, UTSA

Prof. Xiaohong “Dorothy” Yuan, NCAT

Prof. Daniel Limbrick, NCAT

Prof. Kelvin S. Bryant, NCAT

Prof. Jonathan Lambright, SSU

Prof. Patrick Dean, SSU

  • 9:15am – 9:45am Keynote Speech

"Cybersecurity Challenges at NNSA", Mr. Goodman Bellamy, Associate Chief Information Officer, Mission Integration, NNSA/DoE

  • 9:45am – 10:00am Meeting with mentors (Questions and Answers)

Mr. Ki Park, Program Manager, NNSS/MSTS

Dr. Mike R. Lopez, Cybersecurity R&D Manager, Cyber Mission Alliance Group, Sandia National Laboratory

  • 10:00am - 10:20am Guest speech

"Recent Development in CMMC and Career Opportunities", Mr. Reginald Richardson, President, Sapphire Innovative Solutions, Inc.

  • 10:20am – 10:40am Coffee Break

  • 10:40am – 12:00pm Lightning Speech by Students

10:40am-11:00am: 4 students (5 minutes each) by UTSA students

11:00am-11:20am: 4 students (5 minutes each) by NCAT students

11:20am-11:40am: 4 students (5 minutes each) by SSU students

11:40am-12:00pm: 4 students (5 minutes each) by UNLV students

  • 12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch / Group Photo

  • 1:00pm – 1:15pm Cyber Fire Orientation

Norman Lundt and Todd Lindquist, Criterion Systems

  • 1:15pm – 4:45pm Cyber Fire Competition

  • 4:45pm – 5:00pm Wrap-up and Awards

Speakers

Mr. Goodman Bellamy is the Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Mission Integration within the Office of the Associate Administrator for Information Management and Chief Information Officer (OCIO) at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Mr. Bellamy is responsible for developing and cultivating partnerships internally, across the Nuclear Security Enterprise, as well as externally, including with the commercial industry, academia, and the non-profit sectors. The Office of Mission Integration connects agency efforts and ensures close collaboration with the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense on technology and mission integration issues. Through the application of both policy and technical assessments, the Office of Mission Integration ensures service delivery continually meets the dynamic needs of NNSA’s mission programs.

With over 30 years of leadership experience, Mr. Bellamy served over 20 years in the United States Navy. Having begun as an Engineering Officer, he completed 10 duty assignments, won numerous honors and awards including the Joint Service Achievement Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and eventually retired as the Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Missile Defense Agency.

Upon joining the NNSA OCIO in January 2008, he served as the Federal Project Manager responsible for commissioning and managing the NNSA Enterprise Secure Network project. Subsequently, he was the Director of Classified Computing, where he managed the Classified Computing Support Group, and then the Director for Policy and Governance.

Mr. Bellamy earned a master’s degree in National Security and Strategy from the Naval War College in Washington, D.C., a master’s degree in Manpower, Training, and Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Florida A & M University in Tallahassee, Florida.

Mr. Ki Park, PMP, ITIL, CISA is currently serving as the Program Manager for ECSD and a Technical Representative for Nevada National Security Site Directed R&D (SDRD) at Mission Support and Test Services (MSTS) LLC, the M&O Contractor of NNSS for DOE/NNSA since November 1, 2017. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Park served as the Program Director, Extreme Cyber Test & Evaluation Range at Nevada National Security Site, managing the integrated cyber-physical security testbed program in the Remote Sensing Lab (RSL) and Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Mr. Park has integrated and collaborated with Government entities, academia, national labs, and power utilities to conduct representative and full scale outdoor power grid validation and verification (V&V) Test and Evaluations. To enhance the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) related R&D projects at NNSS, Mr. Park has completed UAS Certification program from UNLV and subsequently earned a Remote Pilot Certificate (sUAS) from Federal Aviation Administration.

Prior to the Program Director position, Mr. Park served as the Technical Director for the Communications, Network, and Cyber Security Department at RSL, providing comprehensive technical leadership to a diverse group of scientific, technical, and operations staff which support the Department of Energy (DOE) Emergency Communications Network (ECN), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Cyber Security, Non-Proliferation, and Imaging Technologies works at RSL, NNSS, and DOE HQ. Prior to joining NNSS, Mr. Park has over 20 years of Information Technology (IT) and C4I experience in the Department of Defense (DOD), including seven years of active duty officer in the US Air Force, and successfully managed and implemented numerous IT system engineering projects, performing technical liaison and consultant work among the various IT community and operational user groups for Information Exchange Requirements and System Interoperability Analysis.

Dr. Mike R. Lopez is a Cybersecurity R&D Manager for Cyber Mission Alliance Group at the Sandia National Laboratory. His group provides authorized adversary-based cybersecurity assessments to DOE, DOD, and other federal agencies. His group executes assessments across the software/hardware spectrum from Internet-protocol based network scanning to hardware vulnerability analysis. His group is part of Sandia’s Information Operations Center, which performs research and development in ICS/SCADA security, cyber modeling, and simulation, and the application of AI/ML to the computer and network security.

Before working in cybersecurity, Dr. Lopez supported system engineering and product qualification activities, interfacing extensively with the Kansas City National Security Center, and managing a team of Sandia staff that liaison to the Pantex Plant to ensure that Sandia’s design intent was understood on several critical NNSA development programs. He began his work at Sandia National Laboratories in high energy density plasma physics research, where he created, designed, and fielded z-pinch and laser experiments on the Z Machine as part of a multi-decade effort to harness fusion energy for electric power production. Dr. Lopez is a GIAC CertifiedWeb Application Penetration Tester, Certified Agile ScrumMaster, and Lockheed Martin Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S.E. degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and B.S in Physics from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Mr. Reginald “Reggie” Richardson is a United States Air Force, USAF retired veteran and President/CEO/Founder of Sapphire Innovative Solutions Inc, dba, Sapphire BLU. Founded in 2006, Sapphire BLU, is a Defense Industrial Based company providing System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) services with the USAF, US Navy, National Aeronautical Science Administration, NASA and the US Department of Energy. Our professional services include; SE&I, Cybersecurity, Testing and Evaluation, Electronic Warfare, Research and Development, and UAS/Drone technology development. Sapphire BLU provides System Engineering, Cybersecurity, and Integration solutions to rapidly deploy advance technologies into Department of Defense areas of influence and solve complex challenges. Sapphire, and its research partners, have addressed and resolved cybersecurity challenges on a global scale since 1997. In that year, we participated in “Eligible Receiver 97” Exercise, also known as the birthplace of cybersecurity. This military information warfare cyber-attack helped develop frameworks including National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) which are todays leading cybersecurity standards. Sapphire is on the forefront of cybersecurity technology advancement which includes, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects, Independent Research (IRAD), US patents, and commercial partnerships with advance technology companies.

Sapphire BLU is among the first 25 firms in the nation to become a candidate (CMMC) Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) and a CMMC Registered Practitioner (RP). With the goal of identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks that are critical for national security, this designation allows Sapphire BLU to support organizations conducting business with the DoD, through this certification process.

Reggie sits on two STEM boards, NDIA-SN STEM Chair and Southern Nevada STEM Networks Regional Advisory Committee. Reggie’s community involvement includes sponsorship for the first STEM MLK technology summit in Las Vegas, NV in January 2019. He was recognized by US Senator, Catherine Cortez Masto, for demonstrating exceptional business leadership in promoting the inclusion of STEM, and diversity for careers in Cyber Technologies. Reggie partners with Clark Atlanta University a Historical Black Colleges and Universities HBCUs in research collaboration initiatives and advocates for Public-Private Partnerships as well as Cybersecurity STEM and other knowledge transfer support opportunities.

Cyber Fire Competition

Cyber Fire is a training program developed and administered by the Department of Energy.

Students will make a team of 8 and solve the cybersecurity challenges. Students are encouraged to bring their own notebook computers. We will also provide the notebook computers equipped with Kali linux.

Location

The symposium is held at UNLV SEB (Science and Engineering Building) 1243.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided at the lobby.

Driving and Parking Direction

UNLV SEB is located at the north side of the campus. From the Flaming road, turn right in to Claymont street, then left to Cottage Grove Avenue. Please see the map below. If you drive a car, park at the Cottage Grove parking garage. If you use Uber/Lyft, come to the entrance of the SEB. Due to construction, parking is not available in front of the SEB. But the parking garage is fully available. Park in any staff or student spot, and walk to the SEB entrance. we will hand out the daily parking permit.

Questions

Please contact Prof. Yoohwan Kim at Yoohwan.Kim@unlv.edu.