Purdue information security expert to speak at next Science on Tap
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University computer science professor Eugene Spafford, a sought-after global expert on computer security and privacy issues, is the featured speaker at the next Science on Tap on Thursday (Jan. 19) in downtown Lafayette.
Spafford, who has served as an information security consultant to the White House and other federal government agencies, will speak at 6 p.m. in the upstairs of the Lafayette Brewing Company, 622 Main St., Lafayette.
His presentation, Current Trends in Cybersecurity, is free and open to the public to those ages 21 or older.
"There are few areas of technology that have had such a major impact on society and our lives as computing," Spafford said. "As we have become more dependent on computing, however, we also have become more vulnerable to disruption, computer crime and privacy threats. It is critical that we have more discussion about these topics."
Spafford has an appointment in computer science at Purdue, where he has served on the faculty since 1987. Also a professor of philosophy, communication and electrical and computer engineering, Spafford focuses his research on issues of computer and network security, cybercrime and ethics, technology policy and social impacts of computing.
He founded and is executive director of Purdue's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), which was launched in 1998 and now is the world's largest multidisciplinary academic center addressing information security, assurance and privacy.
Sponsors for Spafford's Science on Tap talk are Discovery Park and the College of Science. Food and refreshments will be provided by Purdue's Department of Computer Science Department and CERIAS.
Spafford serves on a number of advisory and editorial boards and has been honored for his professional work, most recently with the Association for Computing Machinery's Outstanding Contribution to Security award. He is a charter member of the Faculty Leadership Committee of Purdue's Global Policy Research Institute. Both university-wide institutes draw on expertise and research across all of the academic disciplines at Purdue.
Science on Tap, led by Purdue graduate student Patrick Dolan and postdoctoral students John Paderi and Kate Stuart, provides faculty from Purdue the opportunity to share their research activities in an informal setting, touching on subjects and providing presentations that are designed to appeal to a more general audience.
Attendance at the monthly event has averaged 80 during the program's first year.
Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sources: Eugene Spafford, 765-494-7825, spaf@purdue.edu
Patrick Dolan, 765-496-9336, pdolan@purdue.edu