U.S. Department of Energy awards $10 Million Grant to Develop Innovative
Solutions to Mitigate Cyber Threats across the
U.S.
AUBURN,
Ala., April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Auburn University's McCrary Institute
for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security was awarded a
$10 million Department of Energy
grant in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to
create a pilot regional cybersecurity research and operations
center to protect the electric power grid against
cyberattacks.
The total value of the project is $12.5
million, with the additional $2.5
million coming from Auburn
University and other strategic partners.
The center, officially named the Southeast Region Cybersecurity
Collaboration Center (SERC3), will bring together experts from the
private sector, academia and government to share information and
generate innovative real-world solutions to protect the nation's
power grid and other key sectors. It will include a mock utility
command center to train participants in real-time cyber
defense.
"Auburn University is proud to be at
the forefront of this important field as we work against one of the
greatest threats the country and the business sector will face in
the future," said Steve Taylor,
Auburn University's senior vice
president for research and economic development. "The center will
conduct critical research and provide real operational solutions to
protect all of us as we address these challenges. We are thankful
to Oak Ridge National Laboratory for partnering with us and Rep.
Mike Rogers for his support in
securing funding for this critical program."
The center will run experiments with industry partners in a
research lab environment to support integration of new and existing
security software and hardware into operational environments.
Research labs will be established at Auburn
University, housed at the Samuel Ginn College of
Engineering, and at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
"We are excited to work with Auburn on this important national mission,"
said Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Stephen Streiffer. "We're combining our
capabilities to partner with industry, develop new security
technologies and transfer those technologies to industry, all while
developing the workforce that will operate these enhanced
systems."
Workforce and skills development will be a core role of
Auburn's in this partnership.
"This project provides an exciting opportunity for our college
and our students," said Mario Eden,
dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. "Our students will
get hands-on experience in a real-world environment. We have a
proven track record of innovation and this project perfectly aligns
with our mission to provide the best student-centered engineering
experience in America and expand our engineering knowledge through
research."
With an emphasis on critical infrastructure, the research will
help utilities across the nation become more resilient to the
increasing threat of cyberattacks.
"We know that adversaries want the ability to disrupt our energy
infrastructure, which could be devastating for our communities,"
said Moe Khaleel, associate
laboratory director for National Security Sciences at ORNL. "SERC3
will focus on establishing regional partnerships and developing
science-based solutions to mitigate these threats – and keep
everyone's lights on."
Puesh M. Kumar, director of the Department of Energy's Office of
Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER),
praised the collaboration between organizations.
"I applaud Auburn University and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory's collaborative effort to advance grid
cybersecurity," Kumar said. "Everyone must come together –
industry, the national laboratories, academia, as well as State and
Federal governments – if we are to succeed against the growing
cyber threats facing the U.S. energy sector from malicious actors
and nation-states like the People's
Republic of China. This partnership is a critical example of
that."
Frank Cilluffo, director of the
McCrary Institute, said the project is at the core of what the
institute does.
"A secure and resilient grid is a national and regional
imperative," Cilluffo said. "Spearheaded by James Goosby at McCrary and Tricia Schulz at
Oak Ridge, we will create new
research to rapidly identify, share and mitigate cybersecurity
risks while we train the future workforce we need to keep us
safe."
Auburn University is a nationally
ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to
world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite,
top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with
Carnegie's Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate
education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students,
and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and
deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based
advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global
needs. Auburn's commitment to
active student engagement, professional success and public/private
partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension
that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/auburns-mccrary-institute-and-oak-ridge-national-laboratory-to-partner-on-first-regional-cybersecurity-center-to-protect-the-nations-electricity-grid-302121408.html
SOURCE Auburn University-College of
Engineering