A team of cyber professionals, facility professionals, and administrative support staff won the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director’s Award for Outstanding Team Accomplishment at the laboratory’s annual Awards Night. The award recognized their efforts in establishing the first purpose-built facility at ORNL to engage in cyber research for national security.
The Cyber Science Research Facility (CSRF), officially opened in July 2022, has cutting-edge capabilities for cyber research into critical systems of national importance.
“One of our most important research areas is to advance the resilience, security, and effectiveness of critical cyber systems,” said Moe Khaleel, associate lab director for National Security Sciences. “As cyber threats emerge at alarming rates, the research capabilities in this lab will be increasingly vital to our national security.”
Led by the vision and multi-year efforts of Group Leader Juan Lopez, Jr., the team planned and developed all facets of CSRF, including designing the facility layout to maximize floor space, incorporating safety features and energy savings, and procuring state-of-the art equipment.
CSRF enables ORNL researchers, partners, and sponsors to better understand embedded systems and their security using a variety of approaches, for example by integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning into test and evaluation processes.
“This facility is an incredible team accomplishment,” said Shaun Gleason, Cyber Resilience and Intelligence Division director. “These capabilities will help the US outpace dynamic adversaries in the cyber and cyber-physical domains.”
Team members recognized with the Director’s Award include Tricia Schulz, Ryan Styles, Juan Lopez, Jr., Joel Dawson, Michael Iannacone, Miranda Baker, Lance Wetzel, Brandy Milun, Stacy Prowell and Joel Asiamah.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — Liz Neunsinger
