Last modified: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research names deputy director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 8, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research announced today (Feb. 8) that Von Welch, an internationally recognized cybersecurity expert, has been named the center's deputy director.
James Boyd
Von Welch
Welch is the founder and owner of Von Welch Consulting LLC and the founding co-director of the Cybersecurity Directorate at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Welch is considered a pioneer in the deployment of security for computational grids in the early 2000s and for bringing together federated identity with grid security in the latter half of the decade.
A Bloomington native, Welch has maintained a relationship with IU and its Pervasive Technology Institute for a number of years.
"My relationship with IU and PTI goes back through collaborations between PTI and my previous position at NCSA, primarily on the National Science Foundation TeraGrid project," Welch said. "I served as the TeraGrid area director for networking, operations, and security, which provided me the opportunity to work with IU and the other partner organizations."
Fred H. Cate, director of CACR, said Welch's technical expertise complements existing strengths of the center.
"Von's technical expertise complements the policy and legal components the center already has in place," Cate said. "His research and practice in the field of cybersecurity will lead to practical applications with real-world impact at the center and beyond. We are delighted to welcome him to Indiana University."
In addition to providing full-time leadership for CACR, Welch's primary responsibilities will be to help build stronger links with the Global Research Network Operations Center (GR-NOC), Research and Education Network Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC) and other units, and to spearhead efforts to attract major security-related federal funding to the university.
Welch was previously a software architect for the Globus project at the University of Chicago, where he provided leadership in the area of security for the project. Welch has published extensively on grid computing and computer infrastructures. He said he is particularly excited about CACR outreach opportunities, like Security Matters, the center's new video series that provides practical and simple information for protecting data and hardware.
"Security Matters impressed me as the type of application with a broader impact that is important to advancing trustworthy computing across the state and beyond," Welch said. "In addition to that, I see CACR's close relationship with CLEAR Health Information, the Data to Insight Center, Research Technologies and the Digital Sciences Center as a real strength in terms of applying cybersecurity to real-world problems."
