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CAES April 2022 Newsletter

Vasko Discusses Idaho and Cybersecurity on Channel 6 News

On Mar. 7, Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity director Ed Vasko weighed in on the topic of Idaho and the state’s cybersecurity in Idaho officials: Idaho is prepared for a cyberattack, but 100% security doesn’t exist on Idaho 6 News.

Idaho is home to critical infrastructure like dams, the Idaho National Lab and a portion of the power grid. Experts say protecting this critical infrastructure is a team effort.

“We’re doing our best and working to make sure that they stay safe and there’s–we’re doing everything that should be done so there’s no reason to believe that we are not prepared,” Keith Tresh, the Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Idaho said.

Edward Vasko, the Director of Boise State University’s Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity said there’s a need for cybersecurity. “I think that there’s a really strong need, and across the nation, there’s a strong need for individual citizens, businesses and government agencies of all sizes to really step up the necessary awareness and the necessary diligence to thwart attacks as much as we possibly can,” he said.

Updates and Upcoming Events

Microscopy and Characterization Suite (MaCS) Seed Grant Program

MaCS Seed Grant Program Awards up to $5,000 each

The Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) is pleased to announce a MaCS Seed Grant Program. With support from Boise State CAES, Idaho State CAES, and the Boise State Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering, this grant program provides opportunities to staff scientists, faculty and students at CAES Consortium members to utilize the equipment and expertise in the CAES Microscopy and Characterization Suite (MaCS). We aim to promote research in all science fields, as well as increase the MaCS user base.

This grant program covers the costs of both instrument time and MaCS staff time for the awarded proposals. The goal of this sponsorship is to seed opportunities that advance the vision and mission of CAES.

Awards are open to any researcher from the CAES Consortium in any discipline. The lead PI should be a faculty member at Boise State University or Idaho State University. Co-PIs from all CAES Institutions are encouraged.

For questions related to this program please email yaqiaowu@boisestate.edu with the subject line: Your Name, MaCS Seed Grant Program.

MaCS Seed Grant Program Information and Application

INL leadership: Philip Reppert named Director of Idaho University Collaborations, CAES

Philip Reppert has accepted the role of director of Idaho University Collaborations and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) effective April 11. Philip is currently associate director of Geological and Environmental Systems at the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

CAES serves a valuable role as a research, education and innovation consortium consisting of INL and Idaho’s three public research universities. We are excited for Philip to join INL and lead this important effort. Philip will also oversee the collaborations between INL and the Idaho Universities related to the memorandum of understanding regarding INL’s Cybercore Integration Center and Collaborative Computing Center, and other collaborative interactions with our Idaho university partners.

Philip has been in his role at the National Energy Technology Laboratory since 2018, providing technical leadership and capability stewardship for a complex organization with three teams/branches featuring approximately 130 federal, contractor and ORISE scientists who conduct research in the earth sciences. Prior to that, he spent seven years at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as a senior project scientist and supervisor of the geophysics subsurface research branch.

Boise State University Student Led Safety Leaders

Amanda Mullins

Amanda Mullins grew up in Pocatello Idaho and has been living in Boise for the last 5 years. She is currently pursuing a Master’s of Science in Civil Engineering with an Emphasis in Sustainable Infrastructure Materials.

Her research is focusing on how to incorporate high amounts of Recycled Asphalt Pavement into new pavement design with the use of recycling agents. There are many suitable areas of Civil Engineering to incorporate sustainable practice and design and she is excited to be at the forefront of this effort.

Cadré Francis

Cadré is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on understanding the impact of structure-property-processing-performance correlations of 2D materials to develop sensors for environmental monitoring.

Born and raised in the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, Cadré emigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and has earned degrees in the biological and chemical sciences. He is pursuing MSE due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field allowing for research at the intersection of traditional disciplines.

Maddelyn Glassey

Maddelyn is an Inorganic chemistry graduate student who recently got married, adopted a kitten, and bought a house! Her graduate work consists of modeling a metalloenzyme, Suicidal Ada Repair protein, in order to identify the mechanism by which the Ada repair protein in E. coli is able to repair methyl-phosphotriester backbone damage by self-methylation.

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