The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the University of Pittsburgh’s Cyber Energy Center Phase Two funding to advance research and real-world testing designed to protect the nation’s most essential infrastructure.
In the spring of 2024, amid increasing threats to operational technology in energy and water systems, the DOE awarded the University of Pittsburgh $2.2 million to launch the Center, which brings together leaders in industry, government, and academia to ensure more secure and resilient systems.
“Since launching the Center, we’ve developed viable, lab-tested cybersecurity solutions as well as a model that highlights the barriers to the adoption of safety measures,” said Daniel Cole, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Director of the Cyber Energy Center.
“We’ve built a growing ecosystem of industry, government, and academic partners dedicated to protecting critical infrastructure,” added Erica Owen, associate professor in Pitt’s School of Public and International Affairs. “We’re excited to build upon the momentum and position Pittsburgh and our region as leaders in cybersecurity.”
Through the initial DOE funding, the Cyber Energy Center, in partnership with Pitt Cyber, launched the first in a series of interdisciplinary workshops that brought together government, industry, and academia from across disciplines to explore the fast-changing security landscape and weigh technology and policy solutions.
The Center also expanded cybersecurity education at the university, community-college, and workforce level, integrating information technology (IT) with operational technology (OT) to address their growing interconnectedness.
“We’ve created a new course on Data Science for Security,” said Cole. “We provided research opportunities for undergraduates and helped fuel hands-on training to those who work in critical infrastructure. We’ve also begun working with community colleges to incorporate IT and OT security into curriculum.”
With the new funding, in addition to advancing these initiatives and growing its ecosystem of partners, the Cyber Energy Center will demonstrate technological solutions that can make critical infrastructure safer and more resilient.
“We’re moving into the next phase of testing and demonstrating solutions such as digital twin technology, which mirror OT infrastructure to test for vulnerabilities,” said Cole. “We’ll move from theoretical into real-world scenarios.”
“As technology advances, the threats to critical infrastructure evolve just as quickly,” said Owen. “Yet barriers to adopting cybersecurity measures persist. We plan to collect more data and develop evidence-based policy that guides critical sector stakeholders and keeps our region safer and more resilient.”
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