March 14, 2008

Air Force officer to speak at Purdue on the 'cyber domain'

Lt. Gen. Robert J. "Bob" Elder Jr. will speak on "Exploiting the Cyber Domain" during a 7 p.m. event in the Mathematical Sciences Building, Room 175, that is free and open to the public. CERIAS - the Center for Research in Information Assurance and Security - and the College of Science are sponsoring the talk.

Elder is commander of the 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Base in Louisiana. He also commands the Joint Functional Component for Global Strike and Integration and the U.S. Strategic Command's nuclear bomber and reconnaissance Task Force 204. Called "the Mighty Eighth," the task force serves as the air component headquarters to the command for strategic reconnaissance and cybersecurity operations. He also holds a doctoral degree in electrical engineering.

"We are privileged to have someone with this expertise and insight speak at our campus," said Eugene Spafford, a Purdue professor of computer science. "There is no question our government will and should look to use cyber technologies. It's also important in the business world and academia. Lt. Gen. Elder will talk about the growing lines of communication and the need to approach cyberspace the way innovators of the 20th century approached the air domain and the way 19th century traders approached the maritime domain."

Elder has commanded at all levels and led unit deployments to Southwest Asia, Europe and the Pacific, according to an Air Force biography. He has held senior command positions in operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

He also is a command pilot who has logged more than 4,000 hours of flight, including 83 in combat.

Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Source: Eugene Spafford, (765) 494-7825, spaf@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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