College of Engineering and Computing News Archive

Addressing National Threats with Cybersecurity Innovation Event

Thursday, February 17th, 2022, Alan B. Levan; NSU Broward Center of Innovation, in collaboration with InfraGard Member Alliance of South Florida hosted “Addressing National Threats with Cybersecurity Innovation.” Opening remarks made by Dr. Ronald Chenail, Provost/EVP - Academic Affairs, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and Dr. Greg Simco, Professor & Dep. Chair, NSU-College of Computing and Engineering. Keynote Speech from Lynne Clark, Acting Chief, Center for Cybersecurity Education, Innovation and Outreach, National Security Agency (NSA). The Keynote speech discussed ongoing threats and how cybersecurity innovation can address them. Following the Keynote Speech, a Panel Discussion on “Vision for Cybersecurity Innovation: Collaborative Approach” was held with leading industry and government experts including Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) S. Maguire, FBI Miami as Moderator and Panelists; Jeremy Rodgers, CISO, State of Florida, Jim Murray, CISO, National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), and Jacques Island, CEO, Inquesta Corporation. The event was concluded with the Innovation in Cybersecurity Research Showcase from NSU, FIU, and FAU professors + Ph.D. students, moderated by Dr. Yair Levy, Professor & Director of CIPhER, NSU-CCE.

CEC Alum Receives Award

Jack Freund, Ph.D., a graduate of NSU’s College of Engineering and Computing (class of 2012), was recently awarded ISACA's John W. Lainhart IV Common Body of Knowledge Award, which recognizes an individual for major contributions to the development and enhancement of the common body of knowledge used by the ISACA community. Jack received this honor for contributions in developing the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification and for ensuring the integrity and quality of the CRISC certification exam content. Jack is Director, Cyber Risk for TIAA and a Professional Advisor for cyber risk quantification startup RiskLens and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and daughter. For additional information please visit:

Engineering and Technology Week

Engineering and Technology Week was a great success. We kicked it off with High School Day, where about 80 high school kids visited our campus and participated in Engineering activities during the day. Then, on Wednesday, we had a Lunch and Learn where 4 industry experts from FPL and Amex came to talk to our students about how to land their dream job, followed by a wonderful presentation about how to brand yourself from our Career Development Office. Also on that same day, Dr. Snyder facilitated early immersion, where freshmen students come together to be inspired about their program of choice and to learn more about careers in technology. Finally, the grand finale was on Friday with our Women in Technology Seminar, which brought 17 speakers and 2 moderators from Ultimate software, Chen Moore, Modernizing Medicine, LexisNexis and Align Innovation. Their talks were inspiring, and the event was sold out. Pictures from all events are available on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/novaseucec/

ISACA Conference

CEC was present at the 11th Annual ISACA South Florida WOW! Event on February 16th, 2018 The theme was The InfoSec of THings: Emerging issues in Privacy and Security.

South Florida Code Camp

South Florida Code Camp hosted at NSU on February 10th was a huge success! The event brought speakers from the local community and attracted hundreds of attendees. Topics such as Machine Learning, Business Intelligence, Software Testing and many more were covered.

CEC Participated at Annual AIRC Conference

CEC proudly supported the American International Recruitment Council 2017 conference that took place from December 7-9 in Weston, FL. Approximately 400 international recruiters and institutions throughout the USA were present to discuss trends in global mobility for the next few years. This was their 9th annual conference and the theme was:  A New Outlook on Global Student Mobility: Recruiting in Changing Times . Many challenging issues were discussed, such as the USA current political scenario and how it is affecting demand for international students to come here for their higher education experience.

CEC Welcomes High Schoolers

CEC welcomed high school students from Elite Academy on November 20th. It's never too early to inspire and encourage young students to be curious about careers in Engineering and Computing. Dr. Levy and Dr. Laszlo welcomed just over a dozen students from Elite Academy School of Excellence to talk about the possibilities in fields such as Cybersecurity as well to have a little exposure to coding through a 3D graphics activity.

Cybersecurity Day 2017

Cybersecurity Day was a success! CEC hosted yet another great Cybersecurity Day event on October 19th, 2017! Dr. Levy organized the event and spoke to about 100 students from Miami Dade Education Center and G. Holmes Braddock High School. The event welcomed a few distinguished experts in Cybersecurity, such as Benjamin Scribner from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as other industry experts in the areas of security in data centers, FBI and cyber crime prevention, cyber hygiene, as well as fun activities intended to engage and inspire young students to explore this booming field.

Congratulations to Dr. Laurie Dringus!!!

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) recognized Dr. Dringus as an OLC Fellow in the 2017 class for her outstanding contribution and devotion to improving the field of online learning.

External Funding Recognition Award

On October 19, Drs. Greg Simco, Dr. Martha Snyder, Dr. Meline Kevorkian and Dean Tao received the external funding recognition awards during the annual research award ceremony held in Grande Oaks Country Club. Congratulations to all of them for their contributions towards advancing the NSU's research mission. Dr. Snyder was not present at the awards ceremony.

Professor of the Year Award

Please join us in congratulating Prof. Frank Mitropoulos who received the award of 2016-2017 CEC Professor of the Year for his long-time achievements in teaching, research and services. The award ceremony was held last week on October 18, 2017 during the annual faculty reception in the Alvin Sherman Library. The attached picture includes Dr. Mitropoulos, this year's recipient and Dr. Laurie Dringus the 2015-2016 CEC Professor of the Year.

Dean Yong Tao attends Academic Leaders Council Meeting in Palm Beach, August 18, 2016

Dean Tao was joined by university presidents of FAU, Palm Beach Atlantic University, Keiser University, Lynn University, and Palm Beach State College. Representing NSU, Dean Tao participated in the conversation which surrounded the needs of the Distribution/Logistics, Healthcare, and Manufacturing Industries.

Ph.D. Student Speaks at Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference

The 2017 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, February 19–23, 2017 in Orlando, brought together 40,000+ health IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world. CEC Ph.D. student, William C. Reed presented on “Portal Use Factors: The Keys to Patient Portal Adoption” which decribed the factors studies have identified as affecting patient portal use and discussed approaches to address these factors and enhance patient portal adoption and utilization. William C. Reed, FHIMSS, FCHIME, is Executive Vice President and Partner for Huntzinger Management Group (HMG), a management consulting company specializing in healthcare information management. In his more than 35 years of professional healthcare experience he has operated in CEO, COO and CIO roles.

CEC hosted a roundtable discussion with Dr. Xueji Zhang, VP of R&D, Chief Scientist of World Precision Instruments, LLC. - March 23, 2017

Dr. Zhang is a world-renowned research scholar in the field of biomedical sensors and devices, and he is being recognized for significant contributions in the development of free radical analyzer system for biomedical applications, biosensors for cancer diagnostic. His research includes Bio-analysis, electrochemical sensors and biosensors, microelectrodes, ultramicroelectrodes and nanoelectrodes, nanosensors, free radical sensors, nitric oxide sensors, cancer diagnostic, design and application of biomedical instrumentation.