Department of Computer Science
Mary Ann Hoppa, Ph.D., Associate Professor with Norfolk State University’s Department of Computer Science, was an invited speaker at WiCyS 2021 (https://defcon.org/), the world largest running underground hacking conference. Her talk, titled “Hack the Farm Today, Own the Grid Tomorrow,” highlighted cybersecurity risks in offshore wind farms currently being deployed along the U.S. East Coast, and actions needed to avoid future take-downs of critical infrastructure like the electric grid.
Mary Ann Hoppa, Ph.D., Associate Professor with Norfolk State University’s Department of Computer Science, was awarded a $150K grant under the auspices of the Virginia Cyber Navigator Internship Program. NSU’s effort, titled “Supporting Secure, Accurate, Fair and Open Elections for the Commonwealth,” will help provide education and summer internships for three cybersecurity graduate students for the next three years aimed at helping Virginia localities enhance the security of their election processes.
Mary Ann Hoppa, Ph.D., Associate Professor with Norfolk State University’s Department of Computer Science, was accepted to the Keystroke Writing Institute (https://www.advancingstemleadership.net/casl-writing/), a year-long professional development program under the auspices of the Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership (https://www.advancingstemleadership.net/). Keystroke is aimed at fostering authorship among successful HBCU STEM leaders from all levels of the professoriate to better represent relevant narratives, perspectives, and worldviews in peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications and social outlets.
Yen Hung “Frank” Hu, Ph.D., Professor and Mary Ann Hoppa, Ph.D., Associate Professor with Norfolk State University’s Department of Computer Science, along with recent NSU Cybersecurity Master’s degree recipient Ms. Yelena Arishina, co-authored a paper titled A Study of Video Conferencing Software Risks and Mitigation Strategies that was accepted for presentation at the upcoming virtual event, 25th Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE) (https://cisse.info/e/25th/colloquium), October 4- 6, 2021.
Department of Engineering
Renny Fernandez, Ph.D., Engineering Department, has been awarded the National Science Foundation Excellence in Research grant for his proposal titled, Aptamer Integrated Graphene-Gold Conjugates for Machine Learning Aided Pesticide Residue Screening. The three-year award began in September 2021 and totals $500,000. This is the first major grant awarded to the junior Engineering faculty member and this effort will build on seed activities in environmental science and engineering.
Department of Nursing and Allied Health
Norfolk State University Receives $5M to Develop new Master’s Program
Dr. Marie St. Rose, Project Director, has received $5 million to establish a Master of Health Informatics degree program in the Department of Nursing and Allied Health. The cooperative agreement, in consortium with the Virginia Department of Health and the Hampton Roads Community Health Center, seeks to produce 100 underrepresented minority graduates by December 2024. The program is part of a $73-million effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to train 4,000 people in public health informatics and technology The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) awarded the funds to 10 recipients that include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions. The key NSU personnel whose work will be tied to the grant project are: Mrs. Melody Armstrong (Internship Coordinator), Dr. Batrina Martin (Co-Project Director and Faculty Curriculum Collaborator), Dr. Alicia Moore (Faculty Curriculum Collaborator), and Dr. Aretha Thurman. (Faculty Curriculum Collaborator).