Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2351 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144239)
Principal Investigator: Akopian,David
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 300,000
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): Yes
Start and End Dates: 6/1/21 - 5/31/24
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: Engineering
Department, Center, School, or Institute: CEID ELEC & COMP ENGINEERING
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: UTSA Faculty Development in Cybersecurity of Digital I&C in Nuclear Power Plants Research and Education
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
CFDA: 77.008
Program Title: none
Note:
SAMs 1.3.2 The overarching goal of this faculty development program is to develop and establish a state-of-the-art nuclear power plant (NPP) cybersecurity line of research that will enhance the innovation capacities within the College of Engineering (COE) at UTSA. To achieve its goal the program will draw upon the expertise and capabilities of a recently hired assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The research activities will comprise of a multidisciplinary portfolio spanning the areas of digital instrumentation and controls, artificial intelligence, data analytics, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, nuclear plant modeling and cyber-physical security. Furthermore, through a combination of research and educational activities, the program will facilitate enabling technologies to detect, identify, characterize and prevent strategic surprises pertained to cybersecurity of digital I&C in nuclear power plants, while it will establish and sustain a pipeline of workforce with the underlying principles of cybersecurity. The proposed program will address the primary NRC objective of developing a faculty in nuclear engineering by supporting a junior faculty specializing in I&C cybersecurity for NPP. In addition, it will allow the retention of a high-quality assistant professor in the academic field by providing him with a set of resources to expand his research and teaching portfolio. Lastly, it will enrich UTSA capabilities, support new and continue research, and will create a new career path for UTSA engineering students.
Discussion: No discussion notes