Podhradsky named to ERVA task force

July 22, 2022

Dr. Ashley Podhradsky, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, has been named to a specialized task force for ERVA.

ERVA is the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance, which has a five-year initiative to empower the engineering community in order to identify nascent opportunities and priorities through research that addresses national, global, and societal needs. ERVA is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering.

Podhradsky has been named to the thematic task force titled “Engineering R&D Solutions for Unhackable Infrastructure.” Researching unhackable infrastructures will greatly benefit services and organizations people depend on in modern life, such as hospitals, transportation systems, telecommunications, energy providers, and election authorities.

“These networks are so important to everyday life, and I am excited to be involved in discussions to identify solutions to the cybersecurity challenges,” said Podhradsky.

“I will be able to bring in a unique and distinctive perspective from the research projects taking place at Dakota State and in the Madison Cyber Labs.”

Her colleagues on the task force include individuals from Microsoft, Booz Allen Hamilton, VMware Research, Sandia National Lab, MITRE Corporation, and the University of Central Florida.

The task force, established in June, will hold a visioning event in August, hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to discuss several aspects of this topic: the role humans play in potential solutions; machine learning and quantum security developments; designing trustworthy systems and system metrics; and built-in resilience option.

The task force will create a final report that will be available in December 2022.