Posted on January 29, 2025 by Sean M. Wood
Dr. Guenevere Chen and students at DEF Con
The Department of Energy (DOE) has elected UTSA to lead an effort to prepare more students for eventual careers in the nuclear agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). It awarded the school a $3.1 million grant to develop a curriculum, design research projects and provide internships that could improve career opportunities. The EM is responsible for cleaning up and protecting communities that supported nuclear defense production programs and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.
The grant comes from the DOE’s Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP). In 2021, the school received a similar grant from National Nuclear Security Association (DOE/NNSA) for cybersecurity research and workforce development through the Consortium on National Critical Infrastructure Security (CONCISE). Guenevere Chen, an associate professor and Cloud Technology Endowed Fellow for Electrical and Computer Engineering, secured the original cybersecurity and DOE grants.
“Our university is very strong in cybersecurity, but we’ve never gotten the chance to work in the field of environmental management,” Chen says. “We expect this to be a long-term collaboration. One that we can keep expanding.”
UTSA is the lead organization in the CONCISE-EM project. It is partnered with the same universities as it is with the cybersecurity work: University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), a Hispanic-serving institute (HSI); North Carolina A&T, an HBCU; and Savannah State University, another HBCU. The schools are also working with three labs: Nevada National Security Sites, Idaho National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.
“We were awarded this grant due to our team’s proven track record in cultivating top-tier cybersecurity talent for the DOE workforce through the CONCISE project. Our students consistently excel in national competitions, including last year’s DOE CyberForce Competition, where they secured impressive #3 and #9 placements,” said Dr. Chen. “This achievement is also a testament to the exceptional support provided by UTSA’s research sponsor offices, including both pre- and post-award teams, who excel in grant management. With ambitious students, dedicated faculty, strong partnerships with DOE national laboratories, and an extraordinary staff, we are well-positioned to maximize this incredible opportunity.”
This work leverages Dr. Chen’s collaboration with Dr. Saman Zonouz at Georgia Tech who serves as a consultant on the proposal. Dr. Chen and Marco Garza, an undergraduate electrical and computer engineering major, worked with Dr. Zonouz through the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute Energy Faculty Fellow program. This collaboration enrichedthe program’s innovative approach to training future leaders in cybersecurity and energy resilience.
The objectives include developing a curriculum that will engage more Hispanic and African-American students in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Collaborating with the national laboratories provides opportunities for students to extend their learning and enhance research capacity in the field of environmental management.
Over the next three summers, the CONCISE-EM project will support 50 students in internships with the labs. The internships will focus on fields like the Internet of Things (IoT), computer science and engineering, operational technology security, robotics and cybersecurity, which all align with the EM.
“These fields are critical,” Chen said. “We’re committed to preparing and producing talented graduates for these roles.”
— Sean M. Wood
Learn more about Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Learn more about the foundation of the CONCISE-EM Project.
Learn more about the foundation of the CONCISE-EM Project.
