CIS Stories

Rye Jackson ’28, an international studies major and computer science minor at Virginia Military Institute, is researching drone detection for his 12-week Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI) project, “A Multi-Modal Survey of Drone Detection Methods: Acoustic, Visual, RF, and Fusion Approaches.”

Sherif Abdelhamid, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and team member of the Cyber Defense Lab at VMI, has been selected as a 2026-27 Nielsen Center fellow, a prestigious national fellowship awarded by the Nielsen Center.

The Virginia Military Institute Cyber Defense Laboratory (CyDef) will host its annual CyberSmart workshop for middle school students, Monday, June 8 through Thursday, June 11, and for high school students, Monday June 15 through Thursday, June 18 in Marshall Hall on post.

The Virginia Military Institute team won first place recently at the 2026 Seerist Intellithon in Reston, Virginia. The prestigious competition hosted by Seerist — a company whose mission is to shape the future of risk intelligence by enabling organizations to proactively anticipate, manage, and respond to global cyber threats — brought together top talent from five senior military colleges including The Citadel, Norwich University, the University of North Georgia, Virginia Tech, as well as VMI, to solve real-world open-source intelligence and security challenges. The cadet team, sponsored by Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) and Cyber Defense Laboratory (CyDef), included Michael […]

The initiative is designed to equip cadets with practical cybersecurity skills, bridging the gap between traditional classroom learning and real-world application, and positioning them for successful careers after graduation.

Five Virginia Military Institute cadets, with Dr. Sherif Abdelhamid, assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and outreach liaison officer for VMI’s Cyber Defense Laboratory, traveled to present research projects at the SoCon Undergraduate Research Forum in October.

Prestigious people attend Virginia Military Institute, claims Ben Hagerich ’26 — and he was determined to be one of them. That drive, along with the chance to run cross country and track, drew him to the Institute.

Two computer science majors at Virginia Military Institute wrote a paper on artificial intelligence (AI) that has been selected for publication and in-person presentation in the “Generative AI for Collaborative Experiences and Enhanced User Interactions in Mixed Reality” workshop in Sweden.

Dr. Sherif Abdelhamid, assistant professor in the and outreach liaison officer for the at Virginia Military Institute, participated in “Build & Fly with VMI,” a free drone event for students ages 13-18 held April 19 at the New College Institute (NCI) in Martinsville, Virginia.

Jude Roberts ’25, a computer science, analyzed the effectiveness of AI in resume selection for his honors thesis. Using ChatGPT to evaluate 1,000 resumes across various job categories, he found that AI was less accurate and more vulnerable to bias and manipulation than human hiring managers.

Two cadets, Benjamin Davis ’26 and Dang Khoa Le ’25, shared their research project findings recently at the 15th Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference where they earned the Best Paper Award.

A contingent of two faculty members and two cadets from Virginia Military Institute recently attended the 15th Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Organized by the Center for Leadership and Ethics, the invitation-only event is for colleges that are National Security Agency (NSA) / Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-designated National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.

VMI, in collaboration with Virginia Tech, has developed a project called, “CryptoQuest,” which uses cartoon animations and virtual and augmented reality to teach high school and college level students cryptography, post-quantum cryptography, and cybersecurity in a more engaging and interactive way.