By Carrie Solberg
Center for Cyberspace Research
The Air Force Institute of Technology’s Center for Cyberspace Research (CCR) was delighted to host the International Conference on Information Warfare (ICIW) on April 8-9, 2010 at the Hope Hotel and Conference Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Center for Cyberspace Research (CCR) develops Department of Defense leaders in cyber operations through its Masters and PhD programs by being forward-looking and responsive to the changing educational and research needs of the Air Force, Department of Defense, and the federal government.
Over 100 researchers from the United States, Estonia, Finland, France, India, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Kingdom attended this year. The conference chair, Dr. Michael Grimaila from CCR, explained that “The ICIW conference provides a unique venue where researchers can discuss advancements of scientific and technical knowledge as it pertains to information warfare and cyberspace.” This year we were fortunate to have two excellent keynote speakers: Dr. Michael VanPutte from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who discussed mission assurance and Dr. Steve Rogers from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Sensors Directorate, who spoke about integrating humans and computers to address “wicked problems.” The keynote speeches resonated well and generated many discussions about the complexity of operating in cyberspace.
ICIW goals include putting research into practice and giving researchers an understanding of real-world problems, needs, and aspirations. “The ICIW brought the ‘who’s who’ of information warfare together at one location so that we could collaborate and discuss different ideas and research that everyone is doing. So as we walk away, we have a better understanding of what the community is doing and how we can solve problems for our nation.” explained Dr. VanPutte.
The complexity of operating in cyberspace was a favorite topic of discussion. Dr. Rogers summarized the discussions this way, “This conference served as a forum to the information warfare community as we transform our focus and research programs to successfully tackle some of the most complex and important technology problems facing the nation. Attendees got refreshed and motivated by the common purpose of providing the nation with needed technological breakthroughs. It’s time to get to work!”
