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Researcher will use NSF award to fortify and improve security operations centers
LAWRENCE — A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation will enable a researcher from the University of Kansas School of Engineering to investigate how to boost effectiveness of security operations centers (SOCs) — centralized facilities that deal with security issues and protect enterprise computer networks for private industry, academic institutions and government organizations. The research will also help train KU students to address the need for preparing the next generation of skilled security-operations-center analysts.
Journalism professor Teri Finneman will give Budig writing lecture
LAWRENCE — Teri Finneman, associate professor of journalism, is the recipient of the 2021-2022 Gretchen and Gene Budig Teaching Professorship of Writing and will present “Reimagining Roles: Student Writers Serving Kansas Communities” at noon Feb. 24. Finneman, publisher of The Eudora Times, will share the opportunities and challenges of using student writing to help fill information gaps in Kansas small towns.
Brian Rosenblum receives Fulbright Specialist Award to Ghana
LAWRENCE — Brian Rosenblum, co-director of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Kansas, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award to lead a six-week course in digital humanities at the University of Ghana this semester. Rosenblum is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens selected each year to share their expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program.
KU Debate teams win University of Minnesota Invitational
LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas debate teams — Jimin Park, Topeka, with Jet Semrick, Prairie Village, as well as Ethan Harris with Jacob Wilkus, both from Lawrence — swept through the elimination rounds to close out the championship debate and finish as co-champions of the University of Minnesota Invitational Debate Tournament held Jan. 28-30. It is the fifth debate tournament that KU debaters have won this season and the third time that two KU teams have closed out the finals of a tournament.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Researcher will use NSF award to fortify and improve security operations centers
LAWRENCE — A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation will enable a researcher from the University of Kansas School of Engineering to investigate how to boost effectiveness of security operations centers (SOCs) — centralized facilities that deal with security issues and protect enterprise computer networks for private industry, academic institutions and government organizations.
“Organizations usually deploy security operations centers to manage their network operations, defend against threats in cyberspace and maintain regulatory compliance,” said Alexandru Bardas, assistant professor in KU’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) and the Information & Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC). “Automation and metrics play key roles in the effectiveness of security operation centers. Unfortunately, security-driven automation in these environments is often implemented in ad hoc ways and is not accurately reflected in the metrics.”
According to Bardas, current solutions don’t capture all dimensions of automation. He said enterprise networks usually have either partial technical solutions to security challenges that are both social and technical — or social frameworks that don’t fully comprehend the technical components of enterprise network security. The result, he said, is always a one-size-fits-all solution that contributes to inefficiencies in security operations centers.
“We hope to create a framework that tailors security-focused automation for operational environments, assesses the role of humans in this process and reflects the outcomes in the metrics,” Bardas said. “Instead of putting forward another set of generic automation and metrics guidelines for security operations centers, the framework’s main goal is to link technical capabilities of an organization with its social structure. This way, the landscape for security operations centers can evolve from ‘all defenses need to be successful’ to ‘all attacks need to be successful’ to maintain persistent access — turning the tables on adversaries.”
The KU researcher’s work will use an array of research approaches — from designing dynamic abstractions, models and software tools to ethnographic studies and interviews. Bardas said he hoped to account for factors such as stakeholders’ interests and strategic planning as well as provide on-the-ground analysts with ways to input local knowledge about their actual effectiveness into management and policy decisions.
“Security operations centers are sensitive environments, and getting access to these environments is understandably a complex endeavor,” Bardas said. “We’re fortunate to collaborate with external security operations centers from industry, academia and the government sector. We also have a fruitful collaboration with our KU IT Security Office, and we’re very thankful for their support.”
Part of Bardas’ research will train KU students, bringing knowledge from his experience with SOCs in the field into the classroom, to address the “dire need” for preparing the next generation of skilled security-operations-center analysts.
“This project includes research and education activities that feed into each other,” he said. “For instance, we’ll include observations we’re making in the field from working SOCs in the hands-on courses in cyber defense and cryptography that are happening on isolated and dedicated infrastructure. So, we’ll try different approaches on different types of attacks that we’re witnessing in a SOC as part of a course — along the lines of controlled experiments and projects.”
Further, Bardas plans to utilize KU’s student information-security club, known as the Jayhackers, to test the resilience of approaches to security operations centers.
“We’ll take the initial framework prototypes and actually use them in cyber defense competitions with the Jayhackers to defend our networks, to prioritize events, to quantify how we’re approaching things,” Bardas said. “Often, these cyber defense competitions resemble accelerated SOC environments. Of course, reality can be a little different, but a cyber defense competition would be one avenue of evaluating our framework. By doing so we’re also exposing our students to the framework and to security operations centers — so we’re preparing them for the workforce. Quite a few of our Jayhackers are interested in jobs offered by security operations centers. Through this training, they’ll be in a much better position when they hit the job market.”
In addition to the National Science Foundation, Bardas credited KU’s ITTC/IIS, EECS and engineering school, the exceptional graduate students he is working with, and his collaborators for supporting this work under the new CAREER award.
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Contact: Julie Adam, School of Journalism, 785-864-7644, [email protected], @KUJournalism
Journalism professor Teri Finneman will give Budig writing lecture
LAWRENCE — Teri Finneman, associate professor of journalism, is the recipient of the 2021-2022 Gretchen and Gene Budig Teaching Professorship of Writing and will present a lecture on the vital role of student writers Feb. 24.
The Budig Professorship Award recognizes outstanding faculty instruction, and the recipient of the award is asked to deliver a formal lecture. In her lecture, “Reimagining Roles: Student Writers Serving Kansas Communities,” Finneman will share the opportunities and challenges of using student writing to help fill information gaps in Kansas small towns. From a feature story on a beekeeping couple to a 50-page voters’ guide, writing can serve as a critical tool to connect a community, Finneman said, and help students understand the importance of the written word. Her lecture is at noon in the Clarkson Gallery at Stauffer-Flint Hall, and it is open to the public.
Finneman joined the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications in 2018. She teaches courses on reporting, history and diversity. She is the publisher of the Eudora Times, an online news site that covers the small town of Eudora, whose newspaper closed during the Great Recession. The Eudora Times is staffed by students from the journalism school.
“We are grateful to the late Dr. Budig and Gretchen Budig for this gift that recognizes the importance of excellence in writing,” said Ann Brill, dean of the journalism school. “Along with storytelling, clear and engaging writing creates a sense of shared experiences. We have seen that in many communities, and so recognizing Dr. Finneman for her contributions to the Eudora community is a great way to celebrate this gift.”
Finneman’s research focuses on news coverage of U.S. first ladies and women politicians, as well as the U.S. suffrage movement. She is the author of “Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s,” which was named a 2016 finalist for the Frank Luther Mott Kappa Tau Alpha book award for best research-based book about journalism or mass communication.
Finneman also conducts research related to media ethics and journalism history. Her oral history work focuses on local and regional journalism history in the heartland, and she is executive producer of the Journalism History podcast.
In 2021, she received the Jinx Coleman Broussard Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Media History. In 2020, she won first place in the Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century contest and an honorable mention in the AEJMC Standing Committee on Teaching’s contest for Best Practices in Teaching Difficult Topics in a Polarized Society.
The Gene A. Budig professorships and lecture series were established in 1994 by Budig and his wife, Gretchen. Budig became KU’s 14th chancellor in 1981, and during his 13-year tenure more than 180 faculty positions were established. He was an active fundraiser during Campaign Kansas, the 1987-92 campaign that raised $265 million from private donors. Budig Hall is named in his honor.
“Dr. Budig was dedicated to excellence in education throughout his distinguished career. We are very appreciative of the loyal support that Gene and Gretchen Budig have always shown to the School of Journalism,” Brill said.
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Brian Rosenblum receives Fulbright Specialist Award to Ghana
LAWRENCE — Brian Rosenblum, co-director of the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Kansas, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award to lead a six-week course in digital humanities at the University of Ghana this semester.
Rosenblum is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens selected each year to share their expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program. Recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Established in 2001, the Fulbright Specialist Program provides U.S. academics and professionals with significant expertise with the opportunity to complete short-term project-based exchanges designed by institutions around the world.
Rosenblum traveled to Accra, Ghana, last week, where he will be leading a digital humanities class in the English Department at the University of Ghana, consulting on student and faculty projects, and meeting with members of CARLIGH (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana), who are developing open access repositories and policies.
While in Ghana, Rosenblum will also help advance efforts to establish a digital humanities curriculum at the university and strengthen connections between the University of Ghana and KU in the area of digital humanities.
The project ties into Rosenblum’s research interest in global digital humanities and connecting digital humanities scholars in different countries. He has served on the executive committee of Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (GO::DH), a special-interest group that aims to help break down barriers that hinder communication and collaboration among scholars and practitioners of digital humanities in high-, mid- and low-income economies.
GO::DH recognizes that while funding and visibility of digital humanities is dominated by wealthy countries in the Global North, much of the innovation takes place at the margins, and the perspectives of the Global South are vital for shaping the future of digital humanities. Though he is leading a class, Rosenblum noted that he was not going there to “teach” digital humanities.
“The purpose of this project,” Rosenblum said, “is to establish a dialogue, learn from each other, do some hands-on work together and build stronger personal and institutional connections between KU and the University of Ghana.”
Rosenblum connected with faculty at the University of Ghana through programs organized by KU’s African Digital Humanities initiative, a project led by James Yeku, assistant professor of African digital humanities.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the U.S. government and the people of other countries.
Rosenblum is a previous recipient of a Fulbright Award to Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where he taught a class in digital libraries and worked on open access digital publishing initiatives. He also has served on the KU Fulbright committee and reviewed applications for other Fulbright programs.
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
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https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected], @KansasDebate
KU Debate teams win University of Minnesota Invitational
LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas debate teams — Jimin Park with Jet Semrick and Ethan Harris with Jacob Wilkus — swept through the elimination rounds to close out the championship debate and finish as co-champions of the University of Minnesota Invitational Debate Tournament held Jan. 28-30. It is the fifth debate tournament that KU debaters have won this season and the third time that two KU teams have closed out the finals of a tournament.
The team of Park, a junior from Topeka, and Semrick, a junior from Prairie Village, went undefeated at the tournament qualifying for the elimination rounds as the top seed with a 6-0 record in the preliminary rounds. They notched wins over teams from Samford University, Binghamton University, two teams from the University of Minnesota, George Mason University and the University of Pittsburgh. As the top seed they received a bye through the first elimination round and then defeated a team from the University of Iowa in the quarterfinals and Binghamton University in the semifinals to advance to the championship debate.
Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, KU Debate.The team of Harris and Wilkus, freshmen from Lawrence, won four of six debates in the preliminary rounds to qualify for the single-elimination debates. They won debates over Gonzaga University, Samford University, the University of Iowa and the University of Georgia. Their losses were to the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Minnesota. They advanced to the elimination rounds as the sixth seed at the tournament. In the elimination rounds they beat teams from the University of Minnesota in both the Octafinals and the Quarterfinals, avenging their preliminary loss in the quarters. In the semifinals they defeated the University of Iowa to advance to the championship and assure a KU closeout of the final round. It is the second tournament championship for the pair of freshmen this month.
All four KU debaters received individual speaking awards at the tournament. Park was the top speaker, Semrick the fourth speaker, Wilkus the ninth speaker and Harris the 10th speaker. KU debate teams have competed at 12 tournaments this season, winning five of the tournaments.
“We are incredibly excited about the success our teams have enjoyed this season,” said Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of KU Debate. “I am grateful for the hard work of the coaching staff and all of the members of the squad who work to help one another succeed even when they are not competing at tournaments.”
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