Innovation Excellence

INI Celebrates 20 Years

Carnegie Mellon University's Information Networking Institute (INI) recently celebrated two decades of academic excellence with a gala reunion highlighted by two panel discussions on Internet security and mobile communication.

"It was amazing to reunite over 120 alumni from the past 20 years who traveled from across the U.S. and from as far as Greece to celebrate INI's rich history and engage in its vibrant future," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of the INI and director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab. "The energy across all of the events was incredible as alumni reconnected with each other, the INI and Carnegie Mellon. I'm proud to have been part of INI for the last nine years and I look forward to its future success stories."

The panel sessions showcased the accomplishments of the INI faculty and alumni and incited discussion from the audience of alumni across the university.

The first panel, moderated by INI founder Marvin Sirbu: "Evolution from Telecommunications to Mobility" told the story of how a 1980's partnership with a telephone company grew into a launch pad for the CyLab Mobility Research Center and other emerging technology initiatives. The discussion took the audience on a journey from INI's past to its present and provided a glimpse of the future of the telecommunications industry, mobile research & technologies and their applications.

The second panel, "Security and Privacy? How Carnegie Mellon is Driving Research Over the Hurdle of This Dichotomy to be at the Forefront," was moderated by Pradeep Khosla, dean of CMU's College of Engineering. The discussion highlighted and explored contemporary issues involving information security and privacy.

INI also convened the first meeting of the newly established INI Alumni Leadership Council who will engage in dialogue with the INI administration regarding the strategic direction of the organization; encourage and create opportunities for alumni to interact with the INI, Carnegie Mellon and each other in meaningful ways; and identify emerging trends in academia, industry and government that influence INI.

Its members include:

Marullus Williams (Council Chair), President/CEO of Limbic Systems, Inc.
Roman Danyliw, Technical Director, Cyber Threat and Vulnerability Analysis, CERT
Innocent Habiyaremye, current INI student
Matt Kaar, Sr. Information Security Engineer, MITRE
Aikaterini Lamprou , Senior Account Manager, Microsoft Hellas
Aditi Pendharkar, Consultant, ERS, Deloitte and Touche
Hooman Radfar, Founder/CEO, Clearspring Technologies
Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon faculty, and Creative Director/CEO, Schell GamesMichael Souryal, Electronics Engineer, Advanced Network Technologies Div., NIST

In addition to offering competitive academic programs, INI researchers have created the MySecureCyberspace portal to help the public better understand the dangers of surfing the Web. The portal offers an encyclopedia of terms, relevant articles and tools to combat cyberbullying, identity theft and the dangers of online predators.

The MySecureCyberspace game is an interactive game designed for fourth- to sixth-graders that teaches safe Internet use and computer security. The INI and Carnegie Mellon CyLab recently received a $20,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to expand cyberawareness programs to the community.

Through the university's designation as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, some INI graduate students are eligible to participate in the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Programs (SFS), which offers a full scholarship and stipend in exchange for a commitment to work for the government after graduation.

The INI was established in 1989 as the nation's first research and education center devoted to information technology. As an integral department of the College of Engineering and a cooperative endeavor of the School of Computer Science, the Tepper School of Business and the H. John Heinz III College, the INI focuses on professional degree programs that integrate the technologies, economics and policies of global and secure communication networks.

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