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Below are all the current and previous faculty professional development activities for Westmoreland County Community College faculty and staff offered through the PC4A project.
2023 Professional Development Workshop
April 1, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
The 2023 WCCC Faculty Development Workshop focused on cloud security, cryptography, and blockchain technology. The event was held virtually via Zoom, and all interested WCCC faculty and staff were welcome to attend. Download the flyer, brochure, and schedule for more information.
Event Feedback
- 100% of participants rated each session as excellent or very good.
- 100% of participants rated the presenter’s knowledge in their subjects as excellent or very good.
- One participant said, “Great speakers. All were engaging, presented well, and obviously knew the material well. Thank you!”
Dr. Waleed Farag, PC4A Program Director
Presenter: Dr. Waleed Farag, PC4A Program Director | Topic: PC4A Project and Workshop Logistics
Dom Glavach, Chief Security and Technology Officer, CyberSN
Presenter: Dom Glavach, CSTO, CyberSN | Topic: Cloud Security
Presenter: Dom Glavach, CSTO, CyberSN | Topic: Cloud Security
Presenter: Dom Glavach, CSTO, CyberSN | Topic: Cloud Security
Presenter: Dom Glavach, CSTO, CyberSN | Topic: Cloud Security
Dr. Xin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor, University of Mary Washington
Presenter: Dr. Xin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor, Univ. of Mary Washington| Topic: Cryptography
Presenter: Dr. Xin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor, Univ. of Mary Washington | Topic: Cryptography
Presenter: Dr. Xin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor, Univ. of Mary Washington | Topic: Cryptography
Presenter: Dr. Xin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor, Univ. of Mary Washington | Topic: Cryptography
Presenter: Dr. Balaji Palanisamy, Associate Professor, Univ. of Pittsburgh | Topic: Blockchain Technology
Guest Speaker Presentations
Dom Glavach—Cloud Security Telemetry
Session Summary: This session provides an overview of Amazon Web Services, including key terminology and services. The talk introduces the necessary configurations to perform threat detection in the cloud, such as log telemetry, analysis, and visualization, as well as an introduction to common threat-hunting techniques.
Presenter Bio: Dom Glavach is the chief security officer and chief security strategist at CyberSN. In this executive role, he is responsible for leading the company’s information security strategy, policy, IT operations, security engineering, security operations, data privacy, and cyber threat detection. Prior to CyberSN, Glavach spent 20 years working with Concurrent Technologies Corporation, where he served as the chief information security officer and research fellow. He played a critical role in the company’s cyber risk management, providing cyber technical leadership and subject matter expertise to commercial and government clients. Glavach is a CISSP, an active member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cyber Committee, chairs a subcommittee on Vehicle and Embedded Systems Cyber Security, and mentors at cybersecurity meet-ups. He has presented various security topics to a wide range of public and government audiences, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency.
Xin-Wen Wu—Beyond Confidentiality: How Modern Cryptography is Used to Protect Our Data and Cyberspace
Session Summary: Modern cryptography, including symmetric ciphers, asymmetric crypto algorithms, and secure hash algorithms, provides powerful tools to protect cyberspace and users. When used properly, advanced cryptography ensures confidentiality, integrity, and beyond. In this workshop, we will introduce algorithmic concepts of the most commonly used cryptographic protocols. Interesting examples and hands-on activities will be offered to help understand the concepts.
Speaker Bio: Xin-wen Wu, PhD, has been working in cybersecurity and various related areas as a researcher and educator over the last two decades. He has published two books, a monograph, and numerous research articles in reputable journals and international conferences. Wu is a faculty member at the University of Mary Washington. He was also affiliated with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, extending his academic experience at several research-focused universities, including the University of California at San Diego and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Balaji Palanisamy—Introduction to Blockchains
Session Summary: This talk will provide an introduction to distributed ledger technologies. We will discuss the fundamentals of a decentralized ledger and the functioning of a Blockchain. We will also introduce the basics of the Ethereum Blockchain and the notion of smart contracts in Ethereum.
Speaker Bio: Balaji Palanisamy is an associate professor in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include data privacy, privacy-preserving system design, and scalable and resource management for distributed systems, IoT infrastructures, and edge and cloud computing. At the University of Pittsburgh, he carries out research in the Laboratory of Research and Education on Security-Assured Information Systems. He is a recipient of an IBM Faculty Award in 2017 and is a co-recipient of the Best Paper Awards in various conferences, including DBSec 2022, IEEE BigDataCongress 2018, IEEE BigDataCongress 2017, IEEE/ACM CCGrid 2015, and IEEE CLOUD 2012. He is currently an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE TDSC and IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, and IEEE TSC Journal.
Direct Questions to:
Dr. Waleed Farag
Director, IUP Institute for Cybersecurity and Professor of Computer Science
farag@iup.edu | Phone: 724-357-2608 | Fax: 724-357-7908
Lydia Taylor
PC4A Project Manager
ltaylor@iup.edu | Phone: 724-989-5355
