ICCWS Biographies

Below are the ICCWS Biographies of the Conference and Programme Chairs, Key Note Speakers and Mini-Track Chairs.

Conference and Programme Chairs

Prof. Brian K. Payne is the vice provost for academic affairs at Old Dominion University, where he is tenured in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. He is a former editor of the American Journal of Criminal Justice and past president of the Southern Criminal Justice Association and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Payne is the author or co-author of more than 160 journal articles and seven books including White-Collar Crime: The Essentials (Sage), Family Violence and Criminal Justice (Elsevier, with Randy Gainey), Crime and Elder Abuse: An Integrated Perspective (Charles C Thomas), Introduction to Criminal Justice: A Balanced Approach (Sage, with Will Oliver and Nancy Marion). He is the founding Chair of the Hampton Roads Cybersecurity Education, Workforce, and Economic Development Alliance (HRCyber). Payne is currently PI or co-PI on three NSF grants totaling $1.6 million.

Prof. Hongyi Wu is the Batten Chair of Cybersecurity and the Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research at Old Dominion University (ODU). He is also a Professor in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holds joint appointment in Department of Computer Science. Before joining ODU, he was an Alfred and Helen Lamson Endowed Professor at the Center for Advanced Computer Studies (CACS), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette). He received the B.S. degree in scientific instruments from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1996, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering and Ph.D. degree in computer science from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in 2000 and 2002, respectively. His research focuses on networked cyber-physical systems for security, safety, and emergency management applications, where the devices are often light-weight, with extremely limited computing power, storage space, communication bandwidth, and battery supply. He served on the editorial board of several journals including IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems and IEEE Internet of Things Journal. He received NSF CAREER Award in 2004, UL Lafayette Distinguished Professor Award in 2011, and IEEE Percom Mark Weiser Best Paper Award in 2018.

Key Note Speakers

Rodney Petersen is the director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce. He previously served as the Managing Director of the EDUCAUSE Washington Office and a Senior Government Relations Officer. He founded and directed the EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity Initiative and was the lead staff liaison for the Higher Education Information Security Council. Prior to joining EDUCAUSE, he worked at two different times for the University of Maryland - first as Campus Compliance Officer in the Office of the President and later as the Director of IT Policy and Planning in the Office of the Vice President and Chief Information Officer. He also completed one year of federal service as an Instructor in the Academy for Community Service for AmeriCorps' National Civilian Community Corps. He is the co-editor of a book entitled "Computer and Network Security in Higher Education". He received his law degree from Wake Forest University and bachelors degrees in political science and business administration from Alma College. He was awarded a certificate as an Advanced Graduate Specialist in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration from the University of Maryland.

Mini Track Chairs

Nasser S. Abouzakhar is a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Currently, his research area is mainly focused on critical infrastructure security, cloud security and applying machine learning solutions to various Internet and Web security and forensics related problems. He received his PhD in Computer Sci Engg in 2004 from the University of Sheffield, UK. Nasser worked as a lecturer at the University of Hull, UK 2004-06 and a research associate at the University of Sheffield 2006-08. He is a technical studio guest to various BBC World Service Programmes such as Arabic 4Tech show, News-hour programme and Breakfast radio programme. Nasser is a BCS chartered IT professional (CITP), CEng and CSci and is a BCS assessor for the accreditation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK. His research papers were published in various international journals and conferences.

Dr. Joe Adams built the Michigan Cyber Range, an internationally recognized cybersecurity education and training program. Retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel, he served as an associate professor at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) and the chief information officer of the National Defense University among other assignments. His degrees include a B.Sc. in computer engineering from Syracuse University, a M.Sc. in computer systems engineering from the University of Arkansas, and a master's of strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. His Ph.D. in computer engineering is from Virginia Tech.

Dr. Jim Q. Chen, Ph.D. is Professor of Cyber Studies in the College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC)  at the U.S. National Defense University (NDU). His expertise is in cyber warfare, cyber deterrence, cyber strategy, cybersecurity technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Based on his research, he has authored and published numerous peer-reviewed papers, articles, and book chapters on these topics. Dr. Chen has also been teaching graduate courses on these topics. He is a recognized expert in cyber studies and artificial intelligence.

Ed Covert brings over twenty-five years of intelligence, cyber security, and risk management experience. His personal mission is to improve security postures by translating cyber speak to mission need and working to ensure cyber security supports the objectives of the business. Currently, he is the Director of Architecture, Engineering, and Asset Security for Warner Bros. Previously, he was the Global Head of Security Architecture for Deutsche Bank. He holds numerous industry cybersecurity and project management certifications and has an undergraduate in cybersecurity from the University of Maryland University College.

Dr Noluxolo Gcaza is passionate about making cybersecurity accessible to different contexts. Her research interests include cyber security governance, cybersecurity awareness and education. Currently she is a Cybersecurity Researcher at the CSIR. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Research in Information and CyberSecurity (CRICS) at Nelson Mandela University. Dr Gcaza also serves as a Board Member in SaveTnet, a non-profit organization that focuses on fostering a culture of cyber security in a community setting through spreading cyber security awareness. She contributes in the SABS standardisation process as a committee member of the Information Security Technical Committee.

Dr. Aunshul Rege is an Associate Professor with the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. Her cybercrime/security research on adversarial decision-making and adaptation, organizational and operational dynamics, and proactive cybersecurity is funded by several National Science Foundation grants

Dr. Char Sample is research fellow employed for ICF Inc. at the US Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland. Dr. Sample is a visiting academic at the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK and a guest lecturer at Bournemouth University, Rensselaer Polytechnic University and Royal Holloway University. Dr. Sample has over 20 years’ experience in the information security industry. Most recently Dr. Sample focused her research into Fake News, the role of cultural values in cyber security events, and the study of the relationship between human cognition and machines. Presently Dr. Sample is continuing research on modelling cyber behaviours by culture, other areas of research are information weaponization, deceptive data and data resilience.

Dr. Unal Tatar is currently an Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity, University at Albany. He has a 15+ years of cybersecurity experience of cybersecurity in government, industry and academia. He is the former coordinator of the National Computer Emergency Response Team of Turkey. Dr. Tatar’s research is funded by NSA, ONR and Society of Actuaries.  Dr. Tatar holds a BSc degree in Computer Engineering, an MS degree in Cryptography and Ph.D. in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. His main topics of interest are information/cybersecurity risk management, cyber resiliency, cyber insurance, and blockchain.

Pardis Moslemzadeh Tehrani is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. Her research interests lie in the areas of cyberterrorism, cyberlaw, and international humanitarian law. Pardis’s research has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals and she has presented papers at national and international level conferences. She is a member of the editorial review board in several journals. She is also an international scientific member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law. Pardis’s most recent book is Cyberterrorism: The Legal and Enforcement Issues (World Science and Imperial College Press of London, 2017).

Richard L. Wilson teaches in the Philosophy and Computer and Information Sciences at Towson University in Towson, MD and is a Research Fellow in the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics at the University of Baltimore. Professor Wilson has taught a wide variety of Applied Ethics  courses including Engineering Ethics, Computer Science Ethics, Medical Ethics, Environmental Ethics and Business Ethics, and has a wide variety of publications in all of these areas. Previous experience also includes being an Ethics for the Department of Justice for the United States Government

Workshop Facilitators