Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, Founders Chair in Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas, will receive the 2023 IEEE Computer Society Taylor L. Booth Education Award for her leadership in cybersecurity education, data science education and mentorship of members of systemically marginalized groups.

IEEE will present the award Sept. 19 at its International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering in Bellingham, Washington. The award is one of several IEEE honors for Thuraisingham, who is an IEEE fellow and received the organization’s Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award in 1997 for her research in secure distributed data management.

“It is very gratifying to be recognized for contributing to cybersecurity and data science education as well as working with the systemically marginalized communities,” Thuraisingham said. “I am very honored to receive the Taylor L. Booth Education Award for my work over 42 years including in the commercial industry, a federal research lab, U.S. government and academia.”

Thuraisingham, who joined the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science in 2004, is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the British Computer Society and the National Academy of Inventors. She has received numerous professional awards for research innovation, leadership and technical achievement.

Thuraisingham has educated a global community including students in the U.S. and at the University of Dschang in Cameroon, members of federal agencies and industry contractors, and the general public. Thuraisingham has graduated 22 PhD students at UT Dallas — 11 of them women — including students from underserved communities.

“Dr. Thuraisingham, an internationally recognized cybersecurity expert who has received numerous honors from ACM, IEEE and other organizations for her outstanding research work, is also a highly motivated and enthusiastic educator, committed to inspiring and mentoring students at all levels, from K-12 to PhD,” said Dr. Ovidiu Daescu, holder of the Jonsson School Chair and professor and department head of computer science.

Thuraisingham, who served as founding executive director and is current senior strategist of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute, and her research team pioneered machine learning algorithms for malware analysis and insider threat detection and developed layered frameworks for a secure cloud. She has published more than 130 journal articles, 300 conference papers and 16 books, and has delivered more than 200 keynote and featured talks including a featured address at the Women in Data Science Conference in 2018. She has seven U.S. patents.

Criminologist Earns Trio of Awards

Dr. Yeungjeom Lee, assistant professor of criminology in The University of Texas at Dallas’ School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, has received three early career honors for her work.

Lee earned an early career research award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology. She has also won a pair of awards from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). The organization’s Victimology Section has recognized her with its new scholar award. She also will receive the ACJS Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Section’s Tory J. Caeti Memorial Award at the organization’s conference in March.

The early career award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to scholarly knowledge on developmental and life-course criminology early in their career. The new scholar award honors the achievements of a victimology scholar who shows outstanding merit at the beginning of their career.

The Tory J. Caeti Memorial Award includes a $1,000 prize and is sponsored by faculty in the Department of Criminal Justice at University of North Texas to recognize the contributions of young scholars to the field of juvenile justice.

Lee said her research includes examining victim careers, or victimization experiences over the life course, through a developmental life-course perspective.

“It is a huge honor to receive recognition in both of these fields from well-established professional societies,” she said. “This acknowledgement is a testament to the effort I have put into my work and inspires me to continue to make meaningful contributions to the field.”

Lee said she plans to expand her research on victimization to include hate crimes, specifically those motivated by bias against victims’ perceived race, ethnicity or ancestry, aided by a social sciences grant from UT Dallas’ Office of Research and Innovation that she received last year.

“I aim to continue this line of research to guide intervention and prevention strategies in the criminal justice system and public health, and to inform policymakers, administrators and practitioners on areas to target victim-support efforts,” Lee said.

Students Place 2nd in Cybersecurity Competition

James Wrabel (top left), Marzia Cava, Justin Heo (bottom left) and Sayanta Pal Chowdhury.

A team of four University of Texas at Dallas students placed second in an international cybersecurity competition for the team’s policy brief and presentation on national security concerns.

The students were honored in November at the CSAW Cybersecurity Games & Conference, a student-run competition hosted by the New York University Center for Cybersecurity.

Members of the UT Dallas team were James Wrabel, Marzia Cava, Justin Heo and Sayanta Pal Chowdhury. All are students in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences who are working toward a Master of Science in cyber security, technology and policy.

This is the second year in a row a UT Dallas team has placed in the finals of the competition. In 2021, a team that included Wrabel placed third in the policy competition.

“We are proud to represent the University in the finals for back-to-back years,” Wrabel said. “We hope that the tradition will continue in the years to come.”

The team’s policy presentation addressed the risks associated with the use of smart devices in transportation critical infrastructure and provided risk-mitigation strategies for transportation agencies and smart-device manufacturers.

“We spent countless hours, late nights and weekends at the University library working on the project as a group,” Wrabel said. “Our efforts allowed us to strengthen our collaboration and teamworking skills, which later helped us succeed in the competition.”

The team thanked Nate Howe, chief information security officer at UTD, who offered professional insights and feedback on the team’s project and presentation, Wrabel said.

The performance marks the fourth time UTD students have placed in the competition. In 2014, Frederico Araujo PhD’16 placed second for best applied research paper when he was a doctoral student. Another team won a best paper award at the 2012 competition.

Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty, students and staff. To submit items for consideration, contact your school’s communications manager.