Dr. Amelia Estwick, Program Manager for the National Cybersecurity Institute at Excelsior College and Cybersecurity Faculty Program Director within Excelsior College’s School of Graduate Studies, is a Thought Leader for the College’s cybersecurity research, training, and academic initiatives. Prior to her academic position, she worked for the National Security Agency as a Technical Director within their Threat Operations Center which was responsible for monitoring and securing the Department of Defense against cyberattacks.

Dr. Estwick has over 20 years of government IT and cybersecurity experience, is a National Physical Sciences Consortium Fellow, a Certified Ethical Hacker, and a U.S. Army Veteran. She earned her Doctorate in Computer Science from The George Washington University and is passionate about diversity and inclusion initiatives to include increasing the pipeline for women and minority professionals in STEM, IT, and Cybersecurity. Dr. Estwick currently serves as the Vice President for the Women in Cybersecurity Mid-Atlantic Affiliate.

Dr. Wenjing Lou is currently the W. C. English Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech and a Fellow of the IEEE. Prior to joining Virginia Tech in 2011, she had spent 8 years as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida in 2003. Her research interests cover many topics in the cybersecurity field, with her current research interest focusing on privacy protection techniques in networked information systems and cross-layer security enhancement in wireless networks.

Prof. Lou has published over 200 papers. Her works are widely cited. As per Google Scholar, her publications have been cited over 27,000 times and her H-index number is 71. Prof. Lou received many awards for her outstanding research accomplishment. Most recently she was honored with the Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Research Excellence, which is the highest university level award for faculty research excellence, awarded to no more than two recipients each year. Prof. Lou is also a recipient of US National Science Foundation’s CAREER award in 2008.

From August 2014 to August 2017, Prof. Lou served as a Program Director at the US National Science Foundation (NSF). At NSF, her responsibilities included the Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) program, a core program of the Computer and Network Systems (CNS) division within the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), and the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, a cross-cutting security program led by CISE/CNS.

Dr. Deborah Crawford has served as Vice President for Research at George Mason University since April 2016, and is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the full range of the university’s research activities. She joined Mason from the International Computer Science Institute, an independent, non-profit research organization affiliated with the University of California Berkeley, where she served as President and Executive Director. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice Provost for Research at Drexel University. She has worked at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in executive and program management positions in the Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Education and Human Resources, and engineering. She also worked in the Office of the Director, while also serving as NSF’s liaison to the National Science and Technology Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Institutes of Health.

Deb was recognized by the President of the United States for her contributions to science and science policy, receiving a Presidential Rank Award in 2006 and in 2010.

Karen Jackson is the president of Apogee Strategic Partners, a Virginia consultancy helping companies and organizations develop and implement strategies to solve their most daunting challenges in information technology, cyber security, autonomous systems, and smart communities. Additionally, she serves as a Senior Fellow with the Center for Digital Government. Ms. Jackson formerly served as the Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth. She also served as the Commonwealth’s Deputy Secretary of Technology.

In her official capacities she served as a senior advisor to Governors Kaine, McDonnell and McAuliffe on technology matters including innovation, data analytics, telecommunications (broadband), cybersecurity, unmanned systems (autonomy) and smart communities. As Secretary, she was responsible for overseeing and advancing the Commonwealth’s IT infrastructure, developing and advancing policy, programs, and legislative to facilitate innovation, entrepreneurship, technology development, and adoption. She led Virginia’s efforts to secure two FAA UAS test sites and was responsible for initiating the Commonwealth’s work in Smart Communities and cyber-physical systems. She also served as a Senior Advisor to the National Governors Association for their “Meet the Threat, States Confront the Cyber Challenge” initiative.

Ms. Jackson has been actively engaged in national and federal policy initiatives including the development of the National Broadband Plan. She has received a number of national awards for her work in information policy and cyber security. In 2017 she and Governor Terry McAuliffe were jointly recognized as Difference Makers in Cyber Security by the SANS Institute

She remains an ardent advocate of STEM education and Women in Technology.

Ms. Jackson currently serves on a number of Boards including the Advisory Board of the Apex Systems Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech, the Advisory Board of Sera Brynn, the Advisory Board of ITA International, LLC, the Board of Directors for the Online Virginia Authority, and the Board of Directors for Sweet Briar College.