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.

Partnering for workforce development and initiatives

Virginia Tech is the first academic institute to partner with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a private, non-profit that supports government sponsors on critical national security and science policy issues.

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Virginia Tech President Tim Sands (at left) signs the memorandum of understanding with Institute for Defense Analyses President Norton A. Schwartz. Photo by Anthony Wright for Virginia Tech.

Learning to grow against the odds

With a National Science Foundation grant, Virginia Tech researchers tackle the climate change-induced challenges to vegetable production

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The research team is developing climate-smart, economically efficient, and environmentally sustainable precision agricultural practices that enable more effective and adaptive decision-making as part of our nation’s agricultural priorities. Photo courtesy of USDA.

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.

Solving 5G problems in the now

Tom Hou, a Commonwealth Cyber Initiative researcher, and his team have developed a methodology that allows 5G network problems to be solved on site and in real time.

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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.

Using food waste to reduce plastic waste

Supported by a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Zhiwu "Drew" Wang is leading a first-of-its kind pilot project to develop and demonstrate an affordable system to produce biodegradable bioplastics from food waste.

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Zhiwu "Drew" Wang (at left) and Ph.D. student Xueyao "Kira" Zhang in Wang's lab in the Human and Agricultural Biosciences Building I, where the applied research on bioplastics is conducted. Photo by Max Esterhuizen for 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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Coalition of universities and colleges making Virginia a cybersecurity powerhouse , article
Now in its fifth year of operations, the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative is achieving its mission in making Virginia a global leader in cybersecurity and a top destination for federal and industry cybersecurity research.
Date: Aug 28, 2024
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University's counterintelligence work earns federal award , article
In June, Virginia Tech was among five out of more than 10,000 eligible organizations in the United States to receive the 2023 Jack Donnelly Award for Excellence in Counterintelligence from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
Date: Jul 23, 2024
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Researcher supports Indigenous communities in finding accessible solutions to global problems , article
Eranga Galappaththi has dedicated more than 10 years to studying the social dimensions of human-nature systems, particularly within 11 Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka and the Canadian Arctic, examining their responses to various natural and human-made problems.
Date: Jul 15, 2024
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Leveling up cybersecurity through AI games , article
Virginia Tech’s Angelos Stavrou is training artificial intelligence to defend computer networks through a $16 million collaborative cybersecurity project.
Date: Jun 28, 2024

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