Greg Shannon, an IEEE senior member and cybersecurity expert from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), recently began an assignment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as assistant director for cybersecurity strategy in the National Security and International Affairs Division.
IEEE-USA provided a fellowship to CMU to partially support faculty or staff who have the opportunity to serve temporarily in the Executive Office of the President.
Since 2010, Shannon has been chief scientist for the CERT Division at CMU's Software Engineering Institute (SEI). The division is dedicated to improving the security and resilience of computer systems and networks, especially for national security, homeland defense and critical infrastructure.
As chief scientist, Shannon led the division to advance the science of cybersecurity with new research capabilities for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) and the Department of Homeland Security.
OSTP is authorized by Congress to "lead interagency efforts to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets, and to work with the private sector, state and local governments, the science and higher education communities, and other nations toward this end."
In his role at OSTP, Shannon will work on:
- Accelerating innovation and policy in cybersecurity research and development
- Effective & efficient cybersecurity technologies & practices
- The interdependence of security and privacy
- Sustainable diversity of thought in the cybersecurity workforce
Shannon recently served as general chair for the IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy and was chair of the IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative until August.
"My goal as chair was to accelerate innovative research, development and use of efficient cybersecurity and privacy technologies that protect commerce, innovation and expression," Shannon said.