Director of SBU National Security Institute Discusses Cybersecurity Research with Congressional Members and Staff

Associate Professor of Computer Science Radu Sion, Director of Stony Brook University’s National Security Institute (NSI), met with members of Congress and their staff on July 17 to discuss the importance of federal funding for cybersecurity research in addition to the critical value that international researchers and students bring to the field of cybersecurity.

Professor Sion met with Congressman Paul Tonko and Congressman Lee Zeldin as well as the Washington, DC staff of key members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Homeland Security including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Peter King, Congressman Thomas Suozzi, Congressman Dan Donovan and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

During the meetings, Sion conveyed the importance of boosting cybersecurity research funding and mandates to agencies such as DHS, NSF and DARPA to protect our modern, tightly-connected technology-driven democracy. Additionally, he noted that a majority of the top 200 U.S. cybersecurity researchers are first-generation immigrants as are 85% of NSI researchers. Sion urged Congressional members and their staff to implement policies that would encourage deserving international students and researchers to bring their knowledge and expertise to America.

Stony Brook’s NSI secures our homeland by researching and developing technologies for secure, trustworthy, and available communications and computing platforms. NSI is becoming a world leader in research, the education of professionals, security technology, business and policy, and raising awareness. NSI spans multiple disciplines and establishes public-private partnerships to develop new holistic socio-technological solutions for securing our highly-digital societies; it engages not only in research but also in the education of professionals in defense, national and cybersecurity, assurance, and policy.