Summary
As more of the world’s business goes online, digital information has become a primary target, and demand for cybersecurity experts continues to rise. Our deep roots in technology and close ties with government and industry make our graduates highly valued.
We break down silos. Our cybersecurity education and research feature multiple fields of study that extend beyond technological requirements. Study includes a broad array of programs in multiple departments
An urgent need exists for a workforce with advanced technical skills in everything related to security and communications. the CEC’s computing, IT, and engineering programs, with their emphasis on cybersecurity, prepare students to create and maintain crucial information systems that will protect our nation from cyber threats with innovative knowledge and effective tools.
Source: Website
OnAir Post: GMU Cyber Security Engineering Dept.
News
Mason News, – March 27, 2025
“I’m going to teach you how to hack a modern car,” said George Mason University professor Tanvir Arafin to the fall 2024 cohort of CYSE 465 Transportation Systems Design. Arafin not only introduced his students to such exciting concepts in transportation security, but he also incorporated the opportunity to participate in a nationwide cybersecurity competition into his course.
The entire class of 12 from the Department of Cyber Security Engineering chose to participate in the optional assignment and several won first, second, and third place at the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition (NTCC) in November 2024. George Mason’s Finn Schaefer won first place; the team of Noor Mohammed, Sonia Shaukat, Caleb Hughston, and Kayleigh Batchos won second place; and Navraj Singh Gill won third place.
The national competition was open to all university students, both undergraduate and graduate, who could participate individually or in teams of up to four, guided by a faculty advisor. This year’s competition was titled “CYBER-CARE Challenge 2024: Securing the Future of Transportation.”
Participants faced a series of cybersecurity challenges, including password cracking, traffic management system exploitation, Vigenère cipher decryption, SQL injection vulnerability identification, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, and vehicle trajectory anomaly detection. They had a few weeks to complete the challenges remotely.
Arafin developed CYSE 465 by integrating real-world scenarios and cutting-edge research findings from his lab. He has been working in hardware and cyber-physical systems security with a key focus on cybersecurity issues of autonomous and transportation systems. CYSE 465 covers understanding data, communication, operating systems, control, and security primitives used in today’s vehicles for safe and intelligent control and navigation.
“The course offers a unique perspective on the cyber vulnerabilities that emerge from the security-oblivious modernization of transportation systems,” said Arafin.
While he has taught the course since 2022, this was the first time he incorporated the competition into the course. Arafin noted that such competition participation can greatly enhance students’ resumes, and first-place winner Schaefer, a busy student, greatly appreciated the chance to participate.
“This was actually the first competition that I’ve competed in,” he said, explaining that it’s hard to find time for such activity outside of school and work. Schaefer’s favorite challenge at the NTCC involved assessing vehicle datasets to detect problems or attacks. He drew from his personal interest in machine learning to solve the challenge.
“I’ve worked with machine learning models a lot in my own personal projects, but I’ve never had an applicable use for it,” said Schaefer. “So, it was interesting to actually see my work have real meaning to it for once. I was able to do something pretty cool.”
Through courses like CYSE 465, which bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, the Department of Cyber Security Engineering is fostering a new generation of cybersecurity professionals who are well-equipped to secure the future of transportation systems.
“The students’ competition performance is a very compelling argument on the benefits of bringing the results and lessons learned in the research lab directly to the classroom, something many CYSE faculty are doing,” said Paulo Costa, the department’s faculty chair.
The achievements of George Mason students at the NTCC highlight the importance of this approach. By bringing state-of-the-art research directly to the classroom, the Department of Cyber Security Engineering is preparing students to become leaders in the field. As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, the department’s innovative educational strategies will ensure that its graduates are ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
About
Chair’s Statement
Welcome to the Department of Cyber Security Engineering––the first of its kind in the country and the top-ranked program in Virginia.
We are leaders in education in this field, offering both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in cyber security engineering.
Our programs prepare students to tackle some of the most daunting security issues of our day. We teach engineers how to design large, secure systems from the ground up.
Demand for our graduates has never been higher. One group suggests that the global cybersecurity workforce shortage will reach upwards of 1.8 million unfilled positions by 2022. Other reports put that number above 3 million.
Our faculty members are world-renowned leaders in education and research, and our students have the opportunity to work with them in some of the best labs in the country.
Our focus is not only on giving students the technical knowledge they need but helping them become leaders in their fields.
We strive to provide our students with a foundation that will serve them for a career of life-long learning while also advancing the frontiers of engineering.
Explore our programs on this website and see for yourself.
Sincerely,
Paulo Costa
Chair, Department of Cyber Security Engineering
Contact
Email: School
Locations
Cyber Security Engineering Department
Room 359 (Mail Stop 6B1)
Research Hall
George Mason University
10401 York River Road
Fairfax VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-6760
Web Links
Degrees
Bachelor’s Degrees
- Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS): Concentration in Cybersecurity
- Computer Science, BS
- Cyber Security Engineering, BS
- Information Technology: Concentration in Cyber Security
Master’s Degrees
- Applied Information Technology, MS: Concentration in Cyber Security
- Computer Science, MS
- Cyber Security Engineering, MS
- Data Analytics Engineering, MS: Concentration in Cyber Analysis
- Information Security and Assurance, MS
Doctoral Degrees
- Computer Science, PhD
- Information Technology, PhD: Concentration in Information Security and Assurance
- Information Technology, PhD: Concentration in Information Systems
Graduate Certificates
Research Centers
Our research labs and centers are leading the battle against cybercrime. They focus on wireless communications, 5G technology, sensors, artificial intelligence, and more. Take a look at the capabilities and infrastructure available in our laboratories.
Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber, and Intelligence (C5I Center)
Source: Website
C4I & Cyber is the nation’s first and only civilian university-based entity offering a comprehensive academic and research program in military applications of information technology and cybersecurity. The center has broad spectrum of research interests, including sensing and fusion, C4 architectures, communications and signal processing, command support and intelligent systems, modeling and simulation, and information systems. It provides a bridge between the College of Engineering and Computing faculty expertise and the needs of government/defense/intelligence information technology users. Conducts active outreach programs to government and industry. Director: Paulo Costa.
Living Cyber Innovation Lab (Arlington)
The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Northern Virginia Node Cyber Living Innovation Lab will be housed on Mason Square. Adjacent to Mason’s new Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA), the lab will include approximately 4,000 square feet of dedicated space for cybersecurity research, training, and experiential learning.
The Living Innovation Lab will include robotic platforms to evaluate 5G performance and security vulnerabilities. It will study the impact of 5G on industry, internet of things or Industry 4.0, and smart manufacturing, as well as the vulnerability of the supporting power grid. The lab will include autonomous vehicle sensor study, 5G performance, and security vulnerability. These platforms will support LIDAR, radar, stereo, and night-vision cameras that will be deployed on the NoVa Node’s fleet of vehicles that simulate autonomous driving.
Radar and Radio Engineering Lab (RARE)
Duminda Wijesekera, director of the Radar and Radio Engineering Lab (RARE), and Paulo Costa, associate director, how to apply physics to radio waves to determine the causes of accidents. The RARE team works with control systems security to protect transportation infrastructure, including airplanes, trains, and automobiles, from cyber-attacks.
Rapid Prototyping Research Center
The Rapid Prototyping Research Center (RPRC) focuses on providing its Department of Defense sponsors a unique perspective on rapid prototyping that aligns with Section 804 in the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act. Specifically, rather than developing a new system to satisfy intractable problems on the battlefield, the RPRC integrates new technology into existing infrastructure. This unique approach reduces acquisition costs since the sustainment tail is in place. It also reduces the time to field intractable solutions to the battlefield from 10-14 to 1-3 years and provides assurance that the prototype involved is integrated with the latest technology, not dated technology due to lengthy acquisition delivery timelines.
Research Focus
NextG and Wireless Communications
Securing Networks and Improving Performance
NextG technology is providing new and improved network performance and speed but is also adding new connected experiences for users.
In healthcare, NextG technology will enable patients to be monitored via connected devices that constantly deliver data on key health indicators, such as heart rate and blood pressure. In the auto industry, NextG combined with machine learning will provide information on traffic, accidents, and more; vehicles will be able to share information with other vehicles and entities on roadways, such as traffic lights.
Our researchers are developing new models and systems to make NextG more useful and secure for businesses, government, and industry.
Automotive Cybersecurity
Our researchers are designing automotive applications that will provide safety and timing guarantees while offering methods for assisting with accident investigations. Our scientists intend to show how some known autonomous vehicle accidents could have been predicted and possibly avoided at the early stages of the design-verify-validate-test life cycle using our methodology.
Battery Technology and Renewable Energy
Our research group has demonstrated that cyber threat actors could exploit battery control systems to cause explosions. To protect against this threat, we are developing new battery safety and protection systems to ensure the physical safety of battery systems. Additionally, we are testing system communication security systems to protect wired and wireless electric charging systems from cybersecurity and electromagnetic attacks.
System Integration and Test-Bed Development
Our scientists are developing a digital-twin virtual test-bed that, in conjunction with physical testing, will permit in-lab, in-simulation, and in-field testing. This full range of testing options will lead to improved transportation safety, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency for future transportation and smart mobility systems, and improve training for cybersecurity, transportation, and digital law-enforcement personnel.
Control Systems and Security
Keeping Our Transportation and Healthcare Systems Secure
Research in this area includes the safety and security of trains, aircraft, ships, and automobiles. The goal of this research is to create secure cognitive radio networks that ensure mandated safety guarantees. This research also includes electronic support for medical procedures includes formulating, validating and verification of the safety of medical workflows (now called Careflows), privacy and security of medical data, including the protection of personal health identifiers.
Smart Manufacturing Architecture
Improving American Manufacturing
Smart Manufacturing has the potential to make American manufacturing more productive, more energy-efficient, and more competitive.
The team’s work addresses potential methods for formally analyzing safety and security risks in Automated Manufacturing Systems (AMS). They emphasize how to identify components and the communication interfaces and components can that be modeled using formal methods. The team used an automated manufacturing system producing aluminum cans to show how these processes are modeled using a suite of formal methods that included Linear Time propositional Temporal Logic (LTL), Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL), as well as fault and attack tree analysis.
Research Awards and Grants
Cyber Security Engineering faculty members, recognized as the best in their fields, conduct valuable research. Their funding sources include a variety of federal agencies, as well as grants from business and industry.
2025
Mohamed Gebril wins grant for research on threat hunting enhanced by generative AI (LLMs)
Associate Professor Mohamed Gebril was awarded funding for the project: “Threat Hunting Enhanced by Generative AI (LLMs).” This research explores how generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can enhance threat-hunting capabilities, improving the detection, analysis, and mitigation of advanced cybersecurity threats. Gebril’s work aims to bridge the gap between AI innovation and practical cybersecurity applications.
The project is part of the Cyber Initiative’s AI for Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity for AI program.
Mohamed Gebril wins grant for automated threat-hunting system development learning program
Associate Professor Mohamed Gebril received funding for the project: “Automated Threat Hunting System Development Learning Program.” This project focuses on creating an automated threat-hunting system to enhance cybersecurity education and workforce development. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and experiential learning, Gebril aims to equip participants with the skills necessary to tackle modern cybersecurity challenges effectively.
Gebril received funding under the 2024 Experiential Learning Program for this research.
Zhuangdi Zhu wins grant for secure, privacy-conscious threat detection research
Assistant Professor Zhuangdi Zhu received funding for the project: “Secure, Privacy-Conscious Threat Detection.” This research focuses on developing advanced methods for detecting cybersecurity threats while ensuring the privacy of sensitive data. Zhu’s work aims to design innovative, privacy-preserving solutions that enhance threat detection without compromising user confidentiality.
The project is part of the Cyber Initiative’s AI for Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity for AI program.
2024
George Mason University receives a grant from the NTIA Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund
Assistant Professor Vijay Shah and ECE Professor Kai Zeng received a grant for their project on AI-assisted efficient testing methods for 5G radio access networks. This project focuses on the research and development of AI-assisted methods for the testing of O-RAN’s radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), and central units (CU) in terms of their interoperability, performance, and security. Specifically, it aims to design an AI-based testing software framework that can facilitate and automate the 5G O-RAN testing process.
Arafin wins research grant aimed at securing chipset-based semiconductor manufacturing from untrusted supply chains
Md Tanvir Arafin, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Engineering, received funding for the project: “Securing Chiplet-based Semiconductor Manufacturing from Untrusted Supply Chains.” In this project, Arafin and his group will design provable trust embedding techniques for counterfeit chiplet detection.
Arafin received $50,000 from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority for this research. Funding began in Jan. 2024 and will end in Jan. 2025.
Vijay K. Shah receives funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Vijay K. Shah received funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Wireless Innovation Fund on O-RAN Testing R&D award to build a comprehensive cybersecurity testing framework for 5G Radio Access Networks.
Anticipated funding: $480K
More info: https://www.nextgwirelesslab.org/o-ran-cybersecurity-testing
Vijay K. Shah and Kai Zeng receive funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Vijay K. Shah and Kai Zeng received funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Wireless Innovation Fund. The project aims to formulate AI-assisted testing methods for 5G O-RAN components (i.e., RU, DU, and CU) and design an AI-based testing software framework to automate broader 5G Open RAN testing.
Anticipated funding: $700K
Vijay K. Shah receives funding from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority
Vijay K. Shah received funding from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority for Fingerprinting Technology for Enhancing 5G/NextG O-RAN Supply Chain Risk.
Anticipated funding: $49,993
More info: https://www.nextgwirelesslab.org/fingerprinting-for-o-ran-supply-chain
2023
Vijay K. Shah, Kai Zeng, and Parth Pathak receive funding from the National Science Foundation
Vijay K. Shah, Kai Zeng, and Parth Pathak received funding from the National Science Foundation to secure mmWave communications with reconfigurable intelligence surfaces.
Anticipated funding: $800K
More info: https://www.nextgwirelesslab.org/securis
Vijay K. Shah receives funding from the National Science Foundation
Vijay K. Shah received funding from the National Science Foundation for Collaborative Research: Research Infrastructure: CCRI: New: Distributed Space and Terrestrial Networking Infrastructure for Multi-Constellation Coexistence.
Anticipated funding: $299,989
