{"id":117154,"date":"2026-02-18T15:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117154\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:16:06","slug":"from-research-to-real-world-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/117154\/","title":{"rendered":"From Research to Real-World Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Cyber Energy Center<\/a> Phase Two funding to advance research and real-world testing designed to protect the nation\u2019s most essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> to launch the Center, which brings together leaders in industry, government, and academia to ensure more secure and resilient systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince launching the Center, we\u2019ve developed viable, lab-tested cybersecurity solutions as well as a model that highlights the barriers to the adoption of safety measures,\u201d said Daniel Cole<\/a>, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science<\/a> and Director of the Cyber Energy Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built a growing ecosystem of industry, government, and academic partners dedicated to protecting critical infrastructure,\u201d added Erica Owen<\/a>, associate professor in Pitt\u2019s School of Public and International Affairs<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to build upon the momentum and position Pittsburgh and our region as leaders in cybersecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the initial DOE funding, the Cyber Energy Center, in partnership with Pitt Cyber<\/a>, launched the first in a series of interdisciplinary workshops<\/a> that brought together government, industry, and academia from across disciplines to explore the fast-changing security landscape and weigh technology and policy solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve created a new course on Data Science for Security,\u201d said Cole. \u201cWe provided research opportunities for undergraduates and helped fuel hands-on training to those who work in critical infrastructure. We\u2019ve also begun working with community colleges to incorporate IT and OT security into curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re moving into the next phase of testing and demonstrating solutions such as digital twin technology, which mirror OT infrastructure to test for vulnerabilities,\u201d said Cole. \u201cWe\u2019ll move from theoretical into real-world scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs technology advances, the threats to critical infrastructure evolve just as quickly,\u201d said Owen. \u201cYet barriers to adopting cybersecurity measures persist. We plan to collect more data and develop evidence-based policy that guides critical\u00a0sector stakeholders\u00a0and keeps our region safer and more resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Cyber Energy Center Phase Two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3892,3893,12913,3894,3895,73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-117154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-banner","9":"tag-dept-banner","10":"tag-grants","11":"tag-mems","12":"tag-pitt-swanson-school-of-engineering","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}