Aline McNaull of IEEE

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities are increasingly affecting our management of energy delivery systems and the electric grid. It is imperative that the U.S. continues to strengthen our cyber infrastructure including the algorithms, protocols, chip- and application- level security features, as we modernize our electric grid.  Ensuring electric system reliability, security and resilience against cyberattacks is a key national security priority and Congress has certainly sought to address cybersecurity concerns in recent hearings and legislation. 

This talk will provide a summary of discussions in Washington on the intersection of cybersecurity and energy policy, current concerns raised by policy makers as to the state of research and development in these areas, and incentives aimed at strengthening our grid cybersecurity. The talk will include an overview of the policy recommendations laid out in the Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Review and will address ongoing cybersecurity research and development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, and the Departments of Defense and Energy. 

While faculty at universities across the country play a key role in advancing cybersecurity and energy research, connecting to program officers can be challenging. This talk will include resources and information from professional societies and the university advocacy community in order to facilitate relationships between university researchers and federal agency program officers.

Biography:

Aline McNaull is a legislative representative for IEEE-USA. In this position, she focuses on energy, nuclear, aerospace, and research & development policy and works with the broader science and engineering policy community through the Task Force on American Innovation, Energy Sciences Coalition, AAAS, STEM Education Coalition, and Coalition for National Science Funding. She engages with IEEE members throughout the US and works with Congress and the federal science and engineering agencies to influence legislation and policy. Prior to IEEE-USA, Aline was a policy associate at the American Institute of Physics where she focused on STEM education and research policy. Aline began her career as a multi-disciplinary engineer in semiconductor development at Raytheon and as a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the optics division. She is currently pursuing her masters in International Science and Technology Policy at the George Washington University and holds bachelor’s degree in physics from Bryn Mawr College.