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UMGC Global Media Center Cybersecurity Faculty Experts

UMGC Faculty

Select an expert's name for a more detailed biography and to learn more about their areas of expertise. To schedule an interview, please contact Alex Kasten in UMGC Communications at 301-335-9435.

UMGC’s cyber competition teams have won 10 titles in the past four years, including the 2014 Global CyberLympics in Barcelona, Spain, and the first-ever Cyber DiploHack, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

S. Bhaskar, associate dean, School of Cybersecurity and Information Technology

Areas of expertise: cybersecurity education; retrieval of data and analysis of efficient algorithms.

Bruce deGrazia, program chair, cybersecurity management and policy

Areas of expertise: legal and policy aspects of cybersecurity.

Balakrishnan Dasarathy, program chair, information assurance

Areas of expertise: secure software engineering; distributed computing and middleware; learning models and tools for higher education.

Michelle Hansen, collegiate professor, cybersecurity and computer forensics

Areas of expertise: computer forensics; current threatscape; steganography (the practice of concealing a file, message, image, or video within another file, message, image, or video.); penetration testing.

Areas of expertise: cybersecurity in health care, the politics, economics and business of cybersecurity as well as cybersecurity innovation, governance and digital strategy.

Valorie King, program chair, cybersecurity management and policy

Areas of expertise: cybersecurity education and training; cybersecurity management, policy and governance;  risk management; the Internet of Things  (IoT), including the quantized self, embedded medical devices, and wearable computing.

Loyce Pailen, collegiate professor, cybersecurity technology

Areas of expertise: cybersecurity management and policy and technology; the needs and values of human factors in cybersecurity education.

Jimmy Robertson, program chair, software development, security and computer science

Areas of expertise: cloud computing and security; software vulnerability testing; database design; web application development; sensors and signal processing.

Tamie Santiago, collegiate associate professor, cybersecurity policy

Areas of expertise: cybersecurity; critical infrastructure;  intelligence; information assurance; information technology management; strategic planning, research and analysis, and fiscal management and oversight.

Jesse Varsalone, collegiate associate professor, computer networks and cybersecurity

Areas of expertise: hacking; computer and network forensics; incident response. NOTE: VARSALONE IS THE ACADEMIC ADVISOR TO THE UMUC CYBER PADAWANS, THE UNIVERSITY'S CYBER COMPETITION TEAM.

Richard White, adjunct professor, course chair, cybersecurity information assurance

Areas of expertise: cyber black market economies, cyber underground, organization and structure, advanced persistent threats, threat and risk analysis, enterprise cyber remediation, cyber  incident response, cybersecurity governance and strategy