Commonwealth Cyber Initiative unveils Technical Advisory Board

Members includes industry, academic, government leaders

Published January 15, 2021 by Sydney Lake

(From top left) Elisa Bertino, Tracy Gregorio, David Ihrie and Jim Mollenkopf; (From bottom left) Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian, Zachary Tudor, Sennur Ulukus and Dan Woolley. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) announced its inaugural Technical Advisory Board.

Established in the 2018-2020 state budget, CCI is a state initiative aimed at developing public and private partnerships around developing an ecosystem in Virginia for cybersecurity, autonomous systems and data systems research and development. With a mission of research, innovation and workforce development, CCI’s coordinating hub office is based in Arlington with regional nodes in Central, Eastern, and Southwest Virginia.

CCI’s tech advisory board members include:

Elisa Bertino, Samuel D. Conte Professor Computer Science and research director at CERIAS, Purdue University
Tracy Gregorio, CEO, G2 Ops Inc.
David Ihrie, chief technology officer, Center for Innovative Technology
Jim Mollenkopf, vice president of strategic development, Qualcomm
Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian, vice president for research, University of Virginia
Zachary Tudor, associate lab director, National and Homeland Security, Idaho National Laboratory
Sennur Ulukus, Anthony Ephremides Professor in Information Sciences and Systems, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
Dan Woolley, executive director of the Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center, The Mitre Corp.

“The inaugural members represent some of the highest levels of industry, academia and government and bring a wide array of experience and expertise, including running large research groups and developing innovation programs,” CCI Executive Director Luiz DaSilva said in a statement. “They’re also strong advocates for the initiative and their expertise will help us develop programs to further enhance cybersecurity workforce development and innovation within the commonwealth.”