transportation engineering

Cyber sweep: George Mason students take top three spots in national transportation cybersecurity competition

Teresa Donnellan — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 14:42:35 +0000

Cyber sweep: George Mason students take top three spots in national transportation cybersecurity competition Teresa Donnellan Thu, 03/27/2025 - 10:42

"I'm going to teach you how to hack a modern car," said �� professor Tanvir Arafin to the fall 2024 cohort of CYSE 465 Transportation Systems Design. Arafin not only introduced his students to such exciting concepts in transportation security, but he also incorporated the opportunity to participate in a nationwide cybersecurity competition into his course.

The entire class of 12 from the Department of Cyber Security Engineering chose to participate in the optional assignment and several won first, second, and third place at the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition (NTCC) in November 2024. George Mason’s Finn Schaefer won first place; the team of Noor Mohammed, Sonia Shaukat, Caleb Hughston, and Kayleigh Batchos won second place; and Navraj Singh Gill won third place.

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The national competition was open to all university students, both undergraduate and graduate, who could participate individually or in teams of up to four, guided by a faculty advisor. This year’s competition was titled “CYBER-CARE Challenge 2024: Securing the Future of Transportation.”

Participants faced a series of cybersecurity challenges, including password cracking, traffic management system exploitation, Vigenère cipher decryption, SQL injection vulnerability identification, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, and vehicle trajectory anomaly detection. They had a few weeks to complete the challenges remotely.

Arafin developed CYSE 465 by integrating real-world scenarios and cutting-edge research findings from his lab. He has been working in hardware and cyber-physical systems security with a key focus on cybersecurity issues of autonomous and transportation systems. CYSE 465 covers understanding data, communication, operating systems, control, and security primitives used in today's vehicles for safe and intelligent control and navigation.

“The course offers a unique perspective on the cyber vulnerabilities that emerge from the security-oblivious modernization of transportation systems,” said Arafin.

While he has taught the course since 2022, this was the first time he incorporated the competition into the course. Arafin noted that such competition participation can greatly enhance students’ resumes, and first-place winner Schaefer, a busy student, greatly appreciated the chance to participate.

“This was actually the first competition that I've competed in,” he said, explaining that it’s hard to find time for such activity outside of school and work. Schaefer’s favorite challenge at the NTCC involved assessing vehicle datasets to detect problems or attacks. He drew from his personal interest in machine learning to solve the challenge.

“I've worked with machine learning models a lot in my own personal projects, but I've never had an applicable use for it,” said Schaefer. “So, it was interesting to actually see my work have real meaning to it for once. I was able to do something pretty cool.”

Through courses like CYSE 465, which bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, the Department of Cyber Security Engineering is fostering a new generation of cybersecurity professionals who are well-equipped to secure the future of transportation systems.

"The students’ competition performance is a very compelling argument on the benefits of bringing the results and lessons learned in the research lab directly to the classroom, something many CYSE faculty are doing," said Paulo Costa, the department's faculty chair.

The achievements of George Mason students at the NTCC highlight the importance of this approach. By bringing state-of-the-art research directly to the classroom, the Department of Cyber Security Engineering is preparing students to become leaders in the field. As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, the department's innovative educational strategies will ensure that its graduates are ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

In This Story

Tanvir Arafin

Paulo Costa

Learn more about Cybersecurity at George Mason

Topics

Cybersecurity

transportation engineering

Student Success

Department of Cyber Security Engineering

Students

innovative classes

Strategic Direction

Engineering professors research impacts of Baltimore Key Bridge collapse

Shayla Brown — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 18:08:14 +0000

Engineering professors research impacts of Baltimore Key Bridge collapse Shayla Brown Wed, 10/16/2024 - 14:08

In This Story

Elise Miller-Hooks

Shanjiang Zhu

Alireza Ermagun

It was a day that residents in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metropolitan areas won’t soon forget: March 26, 2024, when the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, killing six and leaving many more forever impacted.

Since then, �� professors Elise Miller-Hooks, Alireza Ermagun, and Shanjiang Zhu have received two National Science Foundation RAPID grants to study the cause and impact of the collapse, and potential preventative methods for the future.

The Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed. Photo from Getty Images.

Miller-Hooks and Ermagun are working together on their project, “Understanding Freight Flow Adaptations and Supply Chain Logistics Impacts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse.”

“The incident took out an important link in the roadway and maritime freight and cargo shipping networks. It also took out roadways that serve local traffic, so it affects are so much more than the blocked maritime passageway,” explained Miller-Hooks, a professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing.

The Port of Baltimore is one of two main ports in the region, along with the Port of Virginia, which are critical for transportation, businesses, and network optimization.

“We're trying to understand how the disruption percolates through the links and connections of the intermodal system,” said Miller-Hooks, who is the principal investigator on the project.

Elise D. Miller-Hooks. Photo by Office of University Branding.

“For example, are goods that were destined for the port sitting on a side rail? And how is that backing up other operations in rail and trucking modes in geographically near and far locations?” she explained.

The disruption has enormous impact on local businesses and beyond—even globally, she said. The team is looking at maritime data to determine how far the disruption spread, as it could potentially affect shipments out of China, Europe, and other ports.

Miller-Hooks and Ermagun are collaborating with the Transportation Research Board’s Urban Freight Transportation Committee, where Ermagun serves as a secretary and member.

Ermagun’s interest in urban freight transportation has deepened through his active involvement with the Urban Freight Transportation Committee, where he has successfully led National Cooperative Highway Research Program problem statements, contributing insights and solutions to enhance urban logistics.

“Robyn Bancroft, a long-time member of the committee, helped us connect with the right people within the Baltimore Industrial Group,” said Ermagun, an assistant professor of Geography and Geoinformation Science in the College of Science. “We are gaining valuable insights into how trucking companies and truck drivers have been impacted by the Key Bridge collapse.”

“We’ve heard their stories and gathered important information. By advocating for them, we’re bringing to light insights that wouldn’t be readily available to the public,” he said.

Alireza Ermagun. Photo provided.

Zhu’s RAPID project, “Multifaceted Data Collection on the Aftermath of the March 26, 2024, Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse in the DC-Maryland-Virginia Area,” is a collaboration with researchers from the University of Maryland and Morgan State University.

Zhu studied a similar incident, the 2007 I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse. For this project, Zhu expanded on his previous research, which focused primarily on passenger cars and commuting behavior.

“I spent a few years collecting various data and then developing some models that would help us to better understand the impact of events such as this one,” said Zhu, an associate professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering.

“The major difference is the traffic here actually is lighter. This location is unique because it serves the harbor as a major logistic hub along the East Coast. So, we’re focusing on the impact on commuters as well as the truck companies who may rely on the port,” said Zhu.

The team, including transportation engineering PhD student Adriana Valentina Farias, are looking at maritime data, which shows how different vessels are rerouted, some as far as different ports in New York or South Carolina, and they want correlate that data with the change of tracking traffic.

Shanjiang Zhu. Photo by Office of University Branding.

“A lot of my work is data management,” Farias said. “We use the website, Marine Traffic, which shows all the vessel traffic in all the ports of the world. It allows you to download data on all the vessels that came in and out of a port for 30 days.”

A main objective of the RAPID grants is to archive data that is at risk of perishing if not collected in time. The data collected from these projects will support future research on traffic, travel behavior, logistics, and supply chain from different perspectives.

“I think our research will be helpful in understanding how the port authority was able to manage the collapse and everything that came with it. It's not something that happens very often, so this could serve as a case study for other port authorities to become more resilient and have lessons learned,” said Farias.

Topics

College of Engineering and Computing

College of Science

Community Impact

transportation engineering

Research

National Science Foundation

Strategic Direction

Big data may lead to safer roadways, lower emissions

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 16:26:19 +0000

Big data may lead to safer roadways, lower emissions Teresa Donnellan Mon, 10/23/2023 - 12:26

In This Story

Shanjiang Zhu

Anand Vidyashankar

Once, transportation officials made decisions based on household surveys performed roughly once per decade, which asked selected households to record their travel behavior on a given day. With the advent of smartphones, similar data became available roughly every few minutes. Now, with an increasing number of connected vehicles on the road, that data is available in nearly real time. CEIE professor Shanjiang Zhu is embracing this shift, exploring the capabilities of researchers with this massive amount of data.

With funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Zhu and his research team, Anand N. Vidyashankar from the department of statistics and Chenfeng Xiong from the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Villanova University, will reconcile the travel data from three different sources—surveys, smartphones, and connected vehicles—into invaluable travel information.

"In the past, we tried to understand travel behavior, which is critical for future investment decisions and also transportation policy, based on survey data,” Zhu explained. “Based on that, you understand, on average, where people have traveled, in what mode, with whom, and spent how much time there, uh what is the purpose for the trip, etc. Using that information, you can develop a model that basically can predict future scenario, like how congested the network could be in 2040; and that drives all the investment decisions and policy debates.” This method introduces problems of timeliness, as it can skip major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and human error, as people would not necessarily remember every detail of their travel on a given day.

The introduction of widespread smartphone use about ten years ago made the available data much denser, said Zhu, resulting in about one data point every three to five minutes. Each time a person’s smartphone app calls for location service, their location is automatically registered. Nevertheless, this method introduced a bias problem, as not everyone owns a smartphone and not everyone uses them often.

About a year ago, Zhu’s team won a competition hosted by VDOT to make the best possible use of connected vehicle data, basically newer vehicles like those with an “SOS” button installed. One drawback to the data currently is connected vehicles currently make up a relatively small share of vehicles on the road.

“But we have ways to make corrections from a statistical perspective, and then this gives you a much more accurate picture of traffic on the road,” said Zhu, adding “On average, it's one data point every three seconds. With such data, the accuracy and timeliness of travel demand models could be greatly improved.” Zhu noted his colleague Vidyashankar will be reviewing the data fusion to ensure a rigorous statistical approach.

The new data also opens the door for new safety studies, Zhu said, adding safety studies are currently based mainly on police reports after an accident has occurred. By using alternate data, such as how often a car’s brake deceleration rate exceeds a certain threshold or how hard a driver turns the steering wheel, dangerous locations might be addressed before an accident occurs. Zhu is interested in exploring the topic further using the dataset resulting from his current project.

Zhu foresees data from connected vehicles becoming increasingly important as more and more people adopt the technology. He said, “Now we are investing in the methodology part and seeing how we can make this connection more productive, to improve the driving environment, to make our roads safer, to make the driving experience better, and also to reduce our energy consumption and emissions."

Topics

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

transportation engineering

Big Data

big data analytics

Transportation Policy Operations and Logistics

Research

CEC faculty research

Benjamin Atsem wins second prestigious fellowship award

Rena Malai — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 15:54:01 +0000

Benjamin Atsem wins second prestigious fellowship award Rena Malai Mon, 01/03/2022 - 10:54

In This Story

Mohan Venigalla

�� PhD candidate Benjamin Atsem says it’s his passion to make an impact in the field of transportation engineering. His focus has led him to win the U.S. department of Transportation Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program award not once, but twice.

“When you have a passion to do something, you put in all your best to reflect in your work quality and commitment,” says Atsem, who won the fellowship award for the first time in 2018. “I feel humbled by the award, which challenges me to work harder than before." 

Through this 2021 fellowship award, Atsem will receive a grant of $35,500 towards completing his dissertation work. His research will focus on environmental justice and economic equity issues of emerging modes of transportation, such as micromobility. The micromobility area of transportation includes lightweight, smaller vehicles, like bicycles and scooters.

Atsem will work closely under professor Mohan Venigalla in Mason’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering.

“I feel proud working under professor Venigalla through my research to make sure bikeshare and scooter share systems have equal spread and access in all major urbanized communities, especially in underserved communities,” says Atsem. “Receiving this has given me the launch pad to succeed in my educational and professional career.”

The Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program awards students pursuing degrees in transportation-related disciplines. This program advances the transportation workforce by helping to attract the nation's brightest minds to the field of transportation, encouraging future transportation professionals to seek advanced degrees, and helping to retain top talent in the U.S. transportation industry. 

Topics

grant program

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

transportation engineering

Civil engineering student draws inspiration from her birthplace

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 20:03:39 +0000

Civil engineering student draws inspiration from her birthplace Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/18/2021 - 15:03

Civil engineering major Karla Pineda’s undergraduate career is about to end. Yet, as she prepares to embark on her accelerated master’s program, she reflects on what inspired her to study civil engineering.

Karla Pineda is also a member of Mason's chapter of the American Society for Civil Engineers.

Born in El Salvador, Pineda and her family moved to Northern Virginia when she was 4 years old. She always had an interest in STEM and loved working on tangible projects, so she quickly realized civil engineering was her path.

But visits back to El Salvador led her to concentrate on transportation engineering. “When I traveled home, it was hard to see the harsh difference in infrastructure, especially transportation infrastructure, and that made me more interested in the transportation side of civil engineering,” she says.

Pineda is specifically interested in the intersection between transportation and sustainability. “In El Salvador, and many other places, you can clearly see how pollution has affected the lands and the communities. I know we can do better, we have one earth, and we have to make changes.”

She sees transportation as an accessible path to pursue sustainable efforts because almost everyone uses some form of transportation regularly. “There are little modifications we can make in transportation engineering that will have a huge impact,” says Pineda. Changes like recycling asphalt, using more sustainable materials, and adjusting one’s lifestyle can make a difference.

Mason’s student club, Engineers for International Development (EfID), fascinated Pineda because of their mission to tackle these grand challenges, one small change at a time. Currently, she serves as the vice president and works with the president and the executive board to coordinate events centered around sustainability.

“Typically, we take a trip down to Ecuador in the winter and summer to help a village build a sustainable water supply, but with COVID-19, we haven’t been able to do that,” she says. “We have gotten creative to help the village from a distance and creating other socially distanced events. We’ve hosted a few tree planting events throughout the community, and I worked with other members of the club to translate guides and information to send to the village in Ecuador.”

As part of her accelerated master’s program in transportation engineering, Pineda has already started taking graduate courses during her undergraduate education. She says she chose the accelerated master’s option because it made sense for her long-term career goals and allows her to learn more about transportation engineering. “Getting a master’s in one year instead of two is a great opportunity. I get to take graduate courses in my undergraduate career, and in five years, I come out with a solid foundation of knowledge in civil and transportation engineering,” she says.

“I love school, I love to learn, and the bachelor’s program gives a strong foundation in civil engineering, but I want to be prepared for a career in transportation engineering,” says Pineda.