Organizers

Dr. Krishna Sampigethaya
ERAU Prescott, Arizona

Dr. Krishna Sampigethaya is currently the Chair for the Department of Cyber Intelligence and Security at the Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ, a DHS/NSA designated Center of Academic Excellence for Cyber Defense; offering one of the world's few ABET accredited cybersecurity degree programs; a member of the US CYBERCOM Academic Engagement Network and the RSA®C Security Scholar Program; a DoD Cyber Scholarship Program site; and the only NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) institution for aviation and aerospace cybersecurity. 

Krishna received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington (2007) and was the first to defend a thesis on connected vehicle privacy and aircraft cyber security. He then joined The Boeing Company and was selected early as the first Associate Technical Fellow for aviation cyber-physical security. He was also the first Associate Director for cyber security at the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Research Center.

Krishna founded the first aviation cyber security technical committee, sponsored by the SAE in 2008, and has organized cyber security tracks at AIAA, IEEE, and SAE aerospace conferences. He has served on the RTCA SC-216 standard committee. He co-edited the first special issue on cyber-physical systems, published in the first centennial year issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE journal. With over 65 papers, 24 keynotes/plenaries, and 24 patents in aviation CPS security, he has received awards such as the ASEI Engineer of the Year Award handed to him by the Honorable Charles Bolden and ASEI Corporate Engineering Excellence Award. At Embry‑Riddle, he has led several projects in aviation and aerospace cyber security including the world's first student-led aviation cyber-physical security competition. He has taught the world’s only and award-winning ICAO course on aviation cyber security to professionals from over 24 countries.

Paul Hoyt Nelson
NASA

Paul Hoyt Nelson currently leads the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission’s cybersecurity efforts as the senior cybersecurity advisor. This is a multifaceted architect and management role that includes leading the research and development of aviation cybersecurity capabilities as well as ensuring that all R&D work results in secure and securable technologies for NASA’s diverse stakeholders. He also serves as NASA’s principal aviation cybersecurity liaison to U.S. government agencies and industry stakeholders. In addition, Paul works as an integration program manager in the Airspace Operations and Safety Program where he addresses the difficulties in cross-cutting integration of security and communications across the airspace ecosystem.

He has previously been a NASA chief information security officer (CISO), director of research and development for the NASA Office of Inspector General Computer Crimes Division (CCD) (federal law enforcement), a CCD investigator and has been lead systems and security architect, as well as personnel manager, for many NASA and industry initiatives. With over 35 years of experience in systems, network and security architecture, as well development and operations, he has consistently designed his roles to include staff mentoring and development and program management. This has provided a strong basis for success in these fast-changing technology areas as well as helping to ensure the continued development of scarce talent.

Paul earned a dual degree from Bowling Green State University in computer science and chemistry. He holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from (ISC)2 and a Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist (SCERS) certification from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). He has publications with IEEE, SANS, and other security industry conference proceedings.

Dr. Li Yang
National Science Foundation

Dr. Li Yang has been serving since 2019 as program director for the NSF CyberCorps and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace programs, which seek to advance and bolster the U.S. cybersecurity education and workforce development. Prior to her tenure at NSF, Dr. Yang was a Guerry Professor and Director of the Information Security (InfoSec) Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC).

Dr. Yang's research encompasses network and information security, mobile security, big data analytics, massive data mining, bioinformatics, cybersecurity education, and engineering techniques for complex software system design.