IUP Offering Experts, Expertise to International Conference for Third Year

A team of experts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania is part of the 21st annual Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Conference and Exhibition sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago.

The conference, “People, Systems, Sustainability,” is expected to draw more than 400 professionals from the business community, public sector, regulatory agencies, and nongovernmental organizations and 40 corporate booths. It will be held November 14 and 15, 2017.

This event is the organization's primary initiative for the promotion of health, safety, security, and environmental best practices and new concepts; sharing of information; and opportunity to provide a neutral forum for discussion of controversial issues with implications in these fields.

“IUP continues to be proud of its expertise in the areas of information assurance and cybersecurity across many different departments and disciplines,” IUP Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Timothy Moerland said. “It's extremely gratifying to have an international organization come to us for this third year for our expert faculty and administrators. This is just one more illustration that IUP's outstanding reputation for faculty and program excellence is well deserved.”

“This is also a great opportunity for IUP to continue our work to build academic partnerships and to further develop contacts and relationships in this region and with international companies,” Moerland said.

This year's IUP-related participants include:

• Lisa Schlosser, a 2013 recipient of the IUP Distinguished Alumni Award, will provide the Cyber Security keynote address: “The Biggest Cybersecurity Breach in US Government History: Lessons Learned and the Future of Cybersecurity.” Schlosser retired in 2016 as the federal deputy CIO. Among the most highly-decorated IT executives in the federal government, Schlosser also served as the CIO for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and as acting CIO at the Office of Personnel Management. She is currently a professor at Georgetown University.
• John Kilmarx, associate vice president of Academic Administration, will present on business continuity planning and will pursue opportunities for IUP faculty in the areas of instruction, consulting, and academic research as well as meet with academic partners.
• Bill Balint, IUP chief information officer, will present on information technology implications of disasters, emergencies, and data loss. Balint coordinated the conference's first-ever cybersecurity track in 2015.
• Todd Cunningham, IUP executive director of IT Services, and Ben Dadson, IUP coordinator of desktop services, will join Balint in providing a workshop titled “Cyber Security Considerations for Migrating Production Applications.”
• Jennifer Gossett, professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, is serving as the author of the workshop material for the third consecutive year.
• Emma Archer, assistant director of the American Language Institute, IUP Office of International Education, led IUP's participation at the recent US Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago College Fair.
• IUP Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Tracy Settle made the initial connections between IUP and the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago.

IUP has a history of excellence in the field of cybersecurity and information assurance. IUP's program is unique because of its interdisciplinary character, blending the disciplines of criminology and computer science. In addition to the development of computer programs and systems for cybersecurity, IUP's program focuses on cybercrime detection, loss prevention, and how to collect the evidence to prosecute cybersecurity offenders.

In October, an interdisciplinary team of faculty received a grant of $212,000 from the National Security Agency to enhance cybersecurity education in western Pennsylvania.

IUP was first selected as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, a recognition that the university continues to hold. IUP is one of only nine institutions in Pennsylvania currently holding this recognition.

IUP is a National Cyber Security Alliance “Champion,” recognized by the National Cyber Security Alliance.

IUP offers an annual Cybersecurity/Information Assurance Day, which features nationally recognized security experts, as well as speakers from regional law enforcement, government, security industry, and academia.

IUP was recognized in a 2014 national survey of “Best Schools for Cybersecurity” by HP Enterprise Security, released in October 2015. The university was ranked in the top 25 percent of all cybersecurity programs in the nation. Only four Pennsylvania colleges and universities were rated in the top quartile.