South Coast Regional Innovation Engine: Cybersecurity Solutions for the Maritime Transportation Ecosystem
The South Coast Regional Innovation Engine seeks to conduct research to understand
the interdependencies, vulnerabilities and risks in the maritime transportation ecosystem
in order to develop technologies to materially improve cybersecurity through partnerships
with academia, industry and government.
Rick Siebenaler, Scott Marshall, Dr. Eric Skipper, Col. Warren Parker, Ian Scott, David Rhodes and Dr. Brian Canada participated in a press event in Beaufort announcing the university’s Maritime Cybersecurity grant.
Outcomes
The outcome of this Development Award will more clearly define the maritime cybersecurity needs and gaps that currently exist, innovations and solutions required to address these gaps, and establish tangible innovation, technology and workforce development plans needed to address industry challenges. These insights and plans will serve as a foundation for a subsequent Regional Innovation Engine award by the NSF to translate these initial planning efforts into execution.
Broader Impact
We envision a world class Innovation Engine for maritime cybersecurity education, research, experimentation, investment and commercialization of products with regional and national impact. The project’s initial focus will be the Port of Charleston. Locally, the project will be known as “Maritime Cybersecurity Institute (MCI)”.
Upcoming Events
What: CyberBoat Challenge
When: Dec. 17-19, 2024
Where: USCB Beaufort Campus, 1100 Boundary Street, Beaufort, SC 29902
Following in the successful model of the CyberAuto, CyberTractor and CyberTruck Challenges, the mission of the CyberBoat Challenge is two-fold:
- Develop the next generation workforce by bringing awareness, excitement, professional involvement, and practicum-based training to the maritime cyber domain.
- Establish a community of interest for maritime cybersecurity that transcends individual companies or departments and reaches across disciplines and organizations to make a more universal and experienced base of engineers and managers.
University students from around the U.S. and industry professionals will collaborate to solve maritime cyber challenges on two boats docked at the Beaufort Marina. Learn more
This event is based upon work supported by the NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing Cybersecurity Technologies for the Maritime Transportation System (SC) and funded by the National Science Foundation - Award Number 2305684.
Program Committee:
Jeremy Daily
Program Coordinator
Colorado State University
jeremy.daily@colostate.edu
Rick Siebenaler
Student Travel Coordinator
Maritime Cybersecurity Institute
rsiebenaler@mcsi.org
Warren Parker
Boat and Asset Coordinator
South Coast Cyber Center
warren.parker@ymail.com
In the News
- "USC Beaufort Awarded $1M for Maritime Security, Aims for Another $160M,” Post & Courier, June 12, 2023.
Support from Elected Officials
For more information, contact:
Eric Skipper, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
One University Boulevard
Bluffton, SC 29909
- To receive our email newsletter, send your name and email address to:
maritimecyber@uscb.edu - Read our announcement "USCB Receives $1 million NSF Regional Innovation Engines Development Award"
- Learn more about NSF’s Regional Innovation Engine Development Awards Program
NSF Engines Development Award Number: 2305684