Hello! My name is Casey Withers, and I am a rising senior in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences here at the University of Pittsburgh. I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Statistics with plans to declare a minor in Museum Studies in the fall. Beyond my academic pursuits, I enjoy working in education and communication, primarily in my capacity as a tour guide for the Nationality Rooms at the Cathedral of Learning. I also engage with Pittsburgh’s visual and performing arts scene, serving as the president of the Creators Collective student organization since fall 2023.

This summer, I’ll be participating in the SHURE-Grid (Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Experience Electric Grid Securing and Storytelling) fellowship. This interdisciplinary program, currently in its second year, manifests as a collaboration between the Frederick Honors College, the Swanson School of Engineering, Pitt Research, and the Idaho National Laboratory. Each week, teams consisting of students with experience in engineering, computer science, political science, and/or media studies work with faculty advisors to develop educational materials for undergraduate students at Pitt and beyond. Each module will ultimately consist of a 15-minute video describing the timeline of a cyberattack scenario on a piece of critical infrastructure, an interactive lab, and guides for students and teachers to utilize the materials effectively. We intend for our work to provide future students with an immersive, holistic view of the practice of integrating cybersecurity at every stage of the engineering process (i.e. cyber-informed engineering, or CIE).

Such an effort is incredibly pertinent, as the core principles of CIE remain underappreciated in industry and almost entirely absent in engineering curriculum. The traditional approach to engineering—in which cybersecurity is tacked on to the end of a project as a mere afterthought—still holds considerable sway over the design of critical infrastructure. This phenomenon renders such essential facilities as power grids and water treatment plants ever more vulnerable as they increasingly rely on internet connectivity to function efficiently. For example, consider insulin pumps with wireless control schemes, the subject of my team’s first module. Due to improper authorization and authentication protections, these devices bear the potential for a cyberattack in which a hacker could control the amount of insulin the patient receives. This vulnerability could allow the attacker to induce hypo- or hyperglycemia in the patient, in extreme cases resulting in severe injury, coma, or death. In this instance, the failure to implement CIE could cause not only a serious security breach, but tangible harm to those who depend on medical devices the most. Our work thus revolves around conveying this sense of imminent danger to future engineers.

After my undergraduate career, I plan to attend graduate school to study Applied Statistics. While SHURE-Grid lacks any direct connection to my career aspirations, I believe its wide range of foci will prepare me for the inherent interdisciplinary nature of statistical analysis. The practice of data science and statistics does not exist in a vacuum; its necessity arises from professionals in other disciplines (e.g. political scientists, biologists, marketers) searching for methodical means of answering questions within their own field. Knowing how to interpret and communicate results to a variety of backgrounds, then, constitutes the key to a statistician’s success. With its wealth of combined knowledge of information technology, engineering, organizational policy, and film, SHURE-Grid will provide me an opportunity to practice these communication skills in an innovative and generative environment. I look forward to sharpening my quantitative and qualitative skillsets throughout this program, and I hope to facilitate real progress in the modernization of engineering curriculum.