Organizers and Participants

Md Tanvir Arafin, Morgan State University

Shahrouz Ryan Alimo, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Anthony Barrett, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Nathaniel Bastian, US Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center

Cliston Cole, Morgan State University

George Cybenko (SIAM Fellow), Dartmouth College*

Sunny Fugate, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific

David Garlan, Carnegie Melon University

Andrew Golczynski, US Department of Defense

Aram Hamidi, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Jeff Johns, Director of Data Science, FireEye *

Kevin Kornegay, Morgan State University

David Martinez, MIT Lincoln Labortory*

Onyema Osuagwu, Morgan State University

Tejas Patel, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Celeste Paul, US Department of Defense *

Ketchiozo Wandji, Morgan State University

Richard Van Tassel, US Department of Defense

Vance Wong, US Department of Defense

* These individuals agreed to serve as invited and/or keynote speakers.

Dr. John A. Emanuello is a Senior Research Scientist at the National Security Agency’s Laboratory for Advanced Cybersecurity Research. He earned a Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics from Florida State university in 2015, with a concentration in Complex Analysis. Since joining the NSA, his research interests have shifted towards the intersection of mathematics, AI/ML, and cybersecurity. He has also directed research initiatives in this space. Dr. Emanuello has also organized numerous workshops and seminars at NSA, specifically designed to facilitate meaningful exchanges between communities and enable wider impact of scientific results in AI/ML.

Dr. Kimberly Ferguson-Walter is a Senior Research Scientist with the National Security Agency’s Laboratory for Advanced Cybersecurity Research. She earned a BS in Information and Computer Science from the University of California Irvine, cum laude, with a specialization in artificial intelligence and her MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests are focused on the intersection of computer security, artificial intelligence, and human behavior. Her research background includes reinforcement learning, transfer learning, representation learning, and intelligent tutoring systems. She has been focused on adaptive cybersecurity at the NSA for the past ten years and is the lead for the Research Directorate’s deception for cyber-defense effort. She is currently on joint-duty assignment to the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific to perform collaborative research and facilitate strategic alignment and technology transfers and acts as an advisor to the Navy Science & Technology Advisor Council on matters involving Cyber and Autonomy. She has organized multiple international workshops on cyber deception, autonomous cyber operations, and cognitive security. Dr Ferguson-Walter is a founding member of the Cybersecurity Technical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and chairs a mini-track at the Hawaiian International Conference on System Science (HICSS) on Cyber Deception and Cyber Psychology for Defense.

Dr. Erik Hemberg is a Research Scientist in the AnyScale Learning For All(ALFA) group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab(CSAIL), USA. He has a PhD in Computer Science from University College Dublin, Ireland and a MSc in Industrial Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He has 10 years of experience in AI focusing on program synthesis and coevolution. His work focuses on developing autonomous, pro-active cyber defenses that are anticipatory and adapt to counter attacks. He is also interested in automated semantic parsing of law, and data science for education and healthcare.

Dr. Una-May O’Reilly leads the AnyScale Learning For All (ALFA) group at MIT-CSAIL. ALFA focuses on scalable machine learning, evolutionary algorithms, and frameworks for large scale knowledge mining, prediction and analytics. The group has projects in cybersecurity, healthcare, and online education. Una-May was awarded the EvoStar Award for Outstanding Contribution of Evolutionary Computation in Europe in April, 2013. She is also is a Fellow of the International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, now ACM Sig-EVO. Una-May co-founded ACM SigEVO in 2004. She serves as Vice-Chair of ACM SigEVO. In 2013 she inaugurated the Women in Evolutionary Computation group at GECCO. Una-May served as chair of the largest international Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO, in 2005. She has served on the GECCO business committee, co-led the 2006 and 2009 Genetic Programming: Theory to Practice Workshops and co-chaired EuroGP, the largest conference devoted to Genetic Programming. Una-May serves as the area editor for Data Analytics and Knowledge Discovery for Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines (Kluwer), as editor for Evolutionary Computation (MIT Press), and as action editor for the Journal of Machine Learning Research. Una-May has a patent for a original genetic algorithm technique applicable to internet-based name suggestions. Una-May holds a B.Sc. from the University of Calgary, and a M.C.S. and Ph.D. (1995) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. She joined the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT as a Post-Doctoral Associate in 1996.

Dr. Ahmad Ridley is a Senior Researcher at the National Security Agency in the Laboratory for Advanced Cybersecurity Research. He received a Ph. D in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland-College Park, with a concentration on stochastic optimization of queuing systems. At NSA, Dr. Ridley conducts independent research while also leading a diverse team of researchers. Over the last eight years, his research interests have focused on the application of machine learning methods to improve the human analysts’ ability to defend networks from cyber-attacks while enhancing the cyber-resilience of services dependent on those networks. Currently, he is researching the use of reinforcement learning in developing autonomous cyber defenses to automate and adapt cyber responses at high-speeds and large-scales. Dr. Ridley has [resented numerous technical presentations on his research to academic, industry, and government researchers at workshops sponsored by NSA and various Department of Defense research laboratories. Dr. Ridley has also presented his artificial intelligence research at academic/industry conferences, such as Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM), Institute of Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), and IEEE Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P) conference.

Dr. Dennis Ross is an Assistant Group Leader in the Cyber Operations and Analytics Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Prior to this, he was the lead analytic developer at the Decision Support and Informatics Group at the Global Center for Food Systems Innovation building machine learning models to assists food security researchers at USAID. He leads a group that develops technology to support cyber operations with a focus on artificial intelligence, rapid prototyping, and human machine teaming. Dr. Ross joined Lincoln Laboratory in 2016. He has a MS degree in mathematics and a PhD in computer science both from Michigan State University. He also holds a BA in mathematics from Albion College.

Diane Staheli is currently an Assistant Group Leader in the Homeland Sensors and Analytics Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and formerly an Assistant Group Leader in the Cyber Operations and Analysis Technology Group. She leads projects focused on field research with cyber security and intelligence analysts, sensemaking and situation awareness, explainable artificial intelligence, and human-machine teaming. Ms. Staheli joined Lincoln Laboratory in 2010, having spent ten years of experience in industries ranging from a small home-networking startup to a global information security company. She currently serves on the steering committee for the IEEE Visualization for Cyber Security Symposium, and the organizing committee for the VAST Challenge. Ms. Staheli received an MS degree (with distinction) in human factors in information design from Bentley University, an ALM degree in software engineering from Harvard University, and a BA degree (magna cum laude) in communication, studio art, and film from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Dr. William Streilein is a principal staff member in the Homeland Protection and Air Traffic Control Division of MIT Lincoln Laboratory. In his current role, Dr. Streilein supports efforts across the division focusing on concept, strategy, and program development in bioengineering, bioinformatics, and biodefense. He leverages his technical and leadership experience to emphasize the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to solve national biosecurity, health, and human performance challenges. Prior to his current position, Dr. Streilein led the Cyber Analytics and Decision Systems Group, where his work focused on the application of AI and machine learning to problems in cybersecurity, including threat detection and characterization. Other work in the group included the development of quantitative cybersecurity measurement and modeling capabilities, cyber moving target techniques, and technologies to enhance system resiliency. Dr. Streilein holds a BA degree in mathematics from Austin College, an MM degree in electronic and computer music from the University of Miami, and a PhD degree in cognitive and neural systems from Boston University. He is a senior member of the IEEE. He has been at Lincoln Laboratory since 1998.