The Security Frontier

Innovating for Secure and Resilient Communities >>>

Ensuring communities are prepared to face global threats, from climate change to cybersecurity to national defense through advances in preparation, defense, mitigation, and recovery.

Virginia Tech National Security Institute

Based on the foundation of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology, the university launched the Virginia Tech National Security Institute in September 2021. With a presence in Blacksburg, Virginia and the Washington, D.C., metro area, the institute aspires to be the nation's preeminent academic organization at the nexus of interdisciplinary research, technology, policy, and talent development, the national security institute will advance national security in pursuit of a secure America.

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A National Priority

As global threats become more complex and frequent, so does our reliance on science and technology to keep them at bay. Federal research agencies like the Department of Defense ensure scientists and engineers have the resources they need to support the U.S. military. The fiscal 2022 defense appropriations bill includes increases in overall funding for research, development, testing, and evaluation.

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Image of the United States Capitol Building. Photo credit - https://appropriations.house.gov.

Predicting Climate Change

Reining in climate change has become a central pillar of the Biden administration’s approach to economic and public policy; clean energy initiatives, emissions caps, and other climate-focused provisions account for billions in spending in bills currently working their way through Congress. Virginia Tech researchers, with a heavy-hitting team of collaborators at research institutions all over the country, have mapped out a plan that could finally shed some light on this mysterious region of the atmosphere.

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Large wildfires create pyrocumulus clouds that carry aerosols into the atmosphere, where they influence climate change by upsetting the balance of radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Better data about how aerosols behave in the atmosphere can facilitate more accurate climate prediction. Creative Commons image / CC BY 3.0.

Leading the Department of Defense’s Acquisition Innovation and Research Center

Funded by the Department of Defense and directed by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the center will bring together higher education expertise to increase efficiency in the U.S. Defense Acquisition System to accompany the expansion of defense technology.

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Laura Freeman, the Hume Center’s Intelligent Systems Lab director, works with faculty from the Stevens Institute of Technology and Georgetown University to help lead the Department of Defense’s new Acquisition Innovation and Research Center. Photo taken pre-COVID by Bill Petros, Virginia Tech.

Security Research Areas

Climate Change
Cloud Security
Computer Networks
Cryptography
Cybersecurity
Data Control
Defense
Disaster Resilience
Economic Security
Energy
Environmental Security

Infrastructure
Mitigation
Mobile
Network
Privacy
Recovery
Software
Software Coding
Water
Web Services
Wireless

Security Research Experts

From disaster resiliance to computer network security, Virginia Tech researchers are working to meet needs of the nation’s intelligence and defense communities and addressing global environmental changes.

Laura Freeman

Luiz de Silva

Eric Paterson

Daphne Yao

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Virginia Tech Security Research Sponsors

Security Research Teams

Aerospace and Ocean Systems Division

Center for Coastal Studies

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Global Change Center

Intelligent Systems Division

Space @ Virginia Tech

Spectrum Dominance Division

Security News

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Virginia Tech receives $2.8 million grant from the Department of Defense; Stephanie Travis named director of Senior Military College Cyber Institute , article
The grant will be allocated toward supporting scholarships for students interested in careers focused on cybersecurity and critical foreign languages, and supporting experiential learning opportunities.
Date: Jan 31, 2023
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Program fuels development of new quantum-aware cybersecurity strategies , article
The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative in Southwest Virginia and the Virginia Tech Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering issued two awards for the Quantum Aspects of Cybersecurity program to fuel research in quantum information science, engineering, and technology related to cybersecurity.
Date: Jan 30, 2023
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Simulating self-driving security , article
Commonwealth Cyber Initiative researchers are developing and commercializing a virtual library of real-world driving incidents to simulate and test automated driving technology.
Date: Jan 17, 2023
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Creative wave physics curriculum supports defense workforce , article
With a growing shortage of national defense personnel with expertise in wave physics, Virginia Tech researchers are leveraging sound, music, and creative technologies to educate secondary school students and recent high school graduates in effort to spark an interest in this field.
Date: Jan 09, 2023

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