bdpatoday® | research

National I.T. Showcase Winners for 2022 Announced—HBCUs Capture Top Collegiate Awards at BDPACON22

ATLANTA—BDPACON22, one of the nation’s leading technology inclusion conferences, adjourned Saturday, August 20, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, with a new cohort of I.T. Showcase winners selected from the nation’s colleges, universities, and high schools. Annual showcases feature white papers, oral poster presentations, selection panels from ICT Industry judges, and new scholarships for finalists. This year’s cohort follows.

Student Members from **BDPA’s Houston Chapter** and ***Prairie View A&M University*** at **BDPACON22**

High School Round

Jonathan Bryant • BDPA Detroit
1st Place – Utilizing 3D CAD To Design and Test Charging Adapters for Use In Charging Electric Vehicle
Awarded: $2,500

Sai Nirmal Sarva • BDPA Atlanta
2nd Place — Technology for People with Speech Development Issues
Awarded: $1,250

Javon Jennings • BDPA Huntsville
3rd Place — The Use of International Writing Systems to Enhance Password Security
Awarded: $750

Collegiate Round

Dallyn Reden • Prairie View A&M University • BDPA Houston
1st Place — Securing Invasive Virtualization Attacks
Awarded: $2,500

Olaoluwa Adewoye • Bowie State University • BDPA Washington, D.C.
2nd Place — Cluster Array Configuration through interconnection of Raspbian Systems
Awarded: $1,500

This year’s 44^th annual BDPA Technology Conference (BDPACON22) and Career Expo theme was “Honoring our Legacy, Accelerating the Pace.” For BDPA, 2022 is a great year for community action refocusing on technological barriers, challenges, and policies facing underserved communities. BDPA continues to raise community awareness as the association explores better solutions with new opportunities from diverse and innovative perspectives.

Increasing STEM and cybersecurity engagements with local non-profits, small businesses, HBCUs, JROTC units, and media remain very high priorities for the association as planning for their 50^th anniversary in 2025 and supporting sponsored events begin to unfold in FY23.

To review events or an agenda item from BDPACON22 or to plan for BDPACON23 next year in Atlanta, registrants and BDPA Members may visit https://conference.bdpa.org.

For media inquiries, requests from BDPA Chapters and journalists may be made by emailing: info@bdpa.org or info@bdpatoday.org .

About BDPA

BDPA’s Houston Chapter at ***BDPACON22*** with Norman Mays (center), co-author of **The BDPA Story**

Established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1975 as Black Data Processing Associates, BDPA is an international organization with a diverse membership of professionals and students in the fields of information technology, computer science, data science, and related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. BDPA Members and mission partners engage in serving local communities through professional outreach events, technology conferences, research and development (R&D) summits with youth STEM competitions, while advocating and charting the future direction of information and communications technology (ICT) industries. For corporate, professional, or student engagements, visit BDPA.org.

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*Review* **BDPACON22** *events* —*plan to embrace* BDPACON23 *next year in Atlanta!*

NCCoE Announces Technology Collaborators for the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography Project

Gaithersburg, MD—The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) will be joined by the following technology collaborators in the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography  Project:

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS)
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cryptosense SA
Crypto4A Technologies, Inc.
InfoSec Global
ISARA Corporation
Microsoft
Samsung SDS Co., Ltd.
SandboxAQ
Thales DIS CPL USA, Inc.
Thales Trusted Cyber Technologies
VMware, Inc.

During an initial phase, these collaborators will work with the NCCoE to demonstrate the use of automated discovery tools to identify instances of quantum-vulnerable public-key algorithm use, where they are used in dependent systems, and the function they support. 

Each of these organizations responded to a notice in the Federal Register to submit capabilities that aligned with desired solution characteristics for the project. The selected collaborators signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), enabling them to take part in a consortium where they will contribute expertise and hardware or software to help create a reference design and build example standards-based solutions. 

To learn more about this project, visit the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography project page.  

^{Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)}

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DOD and DAF to create first HBCU led UARC to advance new Tactical Autonomy Research Partnerships

DAYTON, OH—The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is creating the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) led University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). This is also the first DAF UARC. The UARC’s core competencies will focus on advancing the deployment of tactical autonomy for DAF missions. The success of this effort is built on a strong partnership between the DAF, USD(R&E), USD(A&S) and USD(P&R) under the overarching guidance of the Secretary of Defense.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROGRAM

HBCUs graduate 30 percent of African American STEM professionals, but receive less than .05 percent of DOD research funding. HBCUs consistently produce high caliber STEM talent able to compete for advanced degrees at top academic programs. More than one third of African American STEM PhD holders earned a bachelor’s degree from an HBCU while 88 percent of these PhD holders receive PhDs from non HBCUs.

(Left) Courtesy photo: Department of Education

This is clear evidence that untapped potential to address National Security imperatives resides at HBCUs but it is unavailable to the DAF due to historical inequities.

INTENT OF THE PROGRAM

This initiative will enable the DAF to establish and maintain essential research and development capabilities to advance the field of Autonomy and deliver operationally relevant autonomy for national security requirements. Desired outcomes are to:

Advance the field of Autonomy by focusing on key DAF operational imperatives.
Grow and diversify the available pool of Scientists and Engineers to support the DAF and grow organic technical excellence.
Increase capacity accessible to the DAF by fostering HBCU R1 Research Classification.
Seed a unique ecosystem of small and large businesses around the UARC to further the above outcomes.

The UARC will be competitively selected through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) made available soon to industry and academia. It will be based on a consortium model with a Lead HBCU Institution and additional performer institutions, serving under a consortium framework. The DAF Chief Scientist (AF/ST) will be the UARC sponsor with a Management Office responsible for UARC implementation and oversite; and an Executive Steering Board (ESB) which will be populated with members from DoD community partners. The UARC award period will be 5 years with 5 option years at $12M per year. The DAF is leading the investment with $8M per year with additional annual contributions of $2M yearly each from USD(R&E) and USD(A&S).

^{— Source and cover photo: Air Force Research Laboratory}

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