Manufacturing Day 2025 | Cybersecurity in Manufacturing
October 3, 2025 @ 9:30 am - 11:30 am
Join us for Manufacturing Day 2025! This is a nationwide celebration of modern manufacturing designed to inspire the next generation and showcase how industry, educators, and civic leaders are building the future of U.S. manufacturing.
📅 Friday, October 3, 2025 | 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
📍 CyManII – C4M Facility at Port San Antonio
(638 Davy Crockett Rd., San Antonio, TX 78226)
This year, Manufacturing Day will be celebrated at our Cybersecurity for Manufacturing (C4M) facility at Port San Antonio – a national leader dedicated to safeguarding America’s manufacturing sector.
What You’ll Experience:
⚡ Live cybersecurity demonstrations on real-world manufacturing equipment
📚 Training resources for manufacturers of all sizes
🚐 Guided tours of the Mobile Training Vehicle with on-site cyberattack simulations & workforce training
By spotlighting CyManII’s mission, this event underscores the critical importance of cybersecurity in keeping U.S. manufacturing secure, competitive, and resilient.
👩🏫 Students and educators will also discover how advanced manufacturing creates exciting career pathways for the next generation.
Coordinated Vulnerability Awareness Lead | George Mason University
Dr. Duminda Wijesekera is a visiting research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and professor of computer science at George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering. Currently, Dr. Wijesekera leads the Laboratory of Radio and RADAR Engineering (RARE) and is a co-director of the Center for Assured Research (CARE) at Mason. His massive research interests include security and safety of cyber-physical systems, electronic support for medical procedures, and digital forensics research. Previously, he worked as a Senior Systems and Software Engineer at Honeywell’s Military Avionics and Space Systems divisions.
Curtis Taylor
Chief Technical Integration Officer | Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Curtis Taylor is an accomplished cybersecurity research scientist in ORNL’s Physical Systems Group under the National Security Sciences Directorate. Taylor has over nine years of experience in cybersecurity R&D with expertise in networking, network security, and systems security of general computing and embedded devices in collaboration with DOE, DOD, DHS, DOT, and others.
Monika Akbar
Research Collaborator | University of Texas at El Paso
Duminda Wijesekera
Coordinated Vulnerability Awareness Lead | George Mason University
Dr. Duminda Wijesekera is a visiting research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and professor of computer science at George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering. Currently, Dr. Wijesekera leads the Laboratory of Radio and RADAR Engineering (RARE) and is a co-director of the Center for Assured Research (CARE) at Mason. His massive research interests include security and safety of cyber-physical systems, electronic support for medical procedures, and digital forensics research. Previously, he worked as a Senior Systems and Software Engineer at Honeywell’s Military Avionics and Space Systems divisions.
Matthew Luallen
Research Collaborator | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
David M. Nicol
Vice President for Securing Automation | University of Illinois
Dr. David Nicol is a nationally recognized professor and cybersecurity research expert. Currently, Dr. Nicol serves as the Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Illinois and has conducted research in multiple areas including Modeling and Simulation of Large-Scale Systems, Cyber-security and Cyber-risk assessment, and Networks. He also, serves on multiple boards including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Cyber-security External Advisory Board and the Sandia National Laboratories Energy and Homeland Security External Advisory Board.
Dongyan Xu
Vice President for Securing Automation and Secure Manufacturing Architecture | Purdue University
Ananth Grama
Research Collaborator | Purdue University
Jeff Prevost
Vice President For Secure Cloud Architecture | The University of Texas at San Antonio
Dr. John Jeffery Prevost is a nationally recognized researcher and expert in computer engineering. Currently, Dr. Prevost is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Previously, he co-founded and served as the Chief Research Officer and the Assistant Director of the Open Cloud Institute.
Prior to his academic appointment, he served many roles as a technical leader in the computer hardware and software industry.
Paulo Cesar Costa
Vice President for Securing Automation and Supply Chain Security | George Mason University
Dr. Paulo Cesar Costa is an internationally recognized expert from George Mason University in the areas of heterogeneous data fusion and cybersecurity. He has applied his significant experience as a fighter pilot to a career specializing in the fields of electronic warfare and flight safety, which in conjunction with his pioneer research on probabilistic ontologies has led to applications in cyber-physical systems security. He is the current President of ISIF, an IEEE senior member, and member of INCOSE and INFORMS.
Gabriela Ciocarlie
Vice President for Securing Automation and Secure Manufacturing Architecture | The University of Texas at San Antonio
Gabriela F. Ciocarlie, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her expertise is in anomaly detection, distributed alert correlation, network and application level security, cyber physical systems security and distributed system security. Before UTSA, Gabriela was the Chief Product Officer at Elpha Secure and a senior technical manager of SRI’s New York City research hub, which she established in 2016. She was also the principal investigator and co-leader for multiple programs and research projects for industrial control systems.
Krystel Castillo
Vice President for Energy Efficiency | The University of Texas at San Antonio
Dr. Kystel Castillo has over 10 years of experience in energy efficiency modeling and system optimization. With that, she also holds seven years of DOE experience. During her career, she was honored as the GreenStar Endowed Associate Professor in Energy, served in the Mechanical Engineering Department and as the Director of Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute at UTSA. While she served, she managed strategic alliance between UTSA and CPS Energy for research support. She is also the recipient of numerous awards on behalf of the city of San Antonio.
Jacob Sanchez
Chief Financial Officer
Jacob Sanchez is the Chief Financial Officer for CyManII. He comes to CyManII with financial experience both in industry and higher education. He most recently served as the Senior Financial Planning Analyst for CyManII and within other positions at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Jacob has over ten years at UTSA and going on two years with CyManII.
Tymeeka “Ty” Middleton
Director of Education and Workforce Development
Holding over 10 years of experience in Learning, Organizational and Workforce Development, Ty has worked with UTSA for over 2 years as a Senior Manager for Organizational Development and Change Management. As a retired officer with the US Army, Ty has spent the past 12 years in private industry supporting human resources and corporate change management. Ty holds a Masters in Business Administration and is certified as an Organizational Change Manager and Organizational Development & Executive Coach.
Paris Stringfellow
Director of Growth and Sustainability
Paris Stringfellow is a recognized expert in human factors, user-centered design, and risk engineering with 14 years of industry and university experience that includes 4 years working with DOE. Currently, Stringfellow serves as the Associate Director for the Center for Advanced Manufacturing at Clemson University, where she works as a primary interface with industry partners and manages day-to-day operations.
Rose Todd
Chief Operating Officer
Tom Kurfess
Chief Manufacturing and Energy Officer
Dr. Tom Kurfess has over a 45-year career and international recognition as a leading expert in digital manufacturing, focusing on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems. Currently, he serves as ORNL’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, with responsibility for the lab’s strategic planning for advanced manufacturing and sits on MxD Board of Directors. He also, holds 35 years of cyber experience with an in-depth knowledge of production operations, manufacturing systems and supply chains, and policy issues related to advanced manufacturing.
Wayne Austad
Chief Research & Development Officer
Wayne Austad has worked at Idaho National Laboratory for 28 years with more than 20 years of experience leading impactful national security programs. As CTO for National & Homeland Security he leads the strategy for R&D programs, collaborative partnerships, and the Secure & Resilient Cyber Physical Systems Initiative. Previously as Technical Director of the Cybercore Integration Center, he led the creation of a new research and education campus dedicated to control systems cybersecurity and national partnerships that address targeted cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure.
Greg Shannon
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Greg Shannon is an internationally recognized cybersecurity expert with over 30 years of academic, government, and industry experience. For the last decade he was Chief Scientist for the CERT® Division at Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU’s) Software Engineering Institute. He has served as a member of U.S. Air Force (USAF) Scientific Advisory Board and as an assistant director for Cybersecurity Strategy for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP). He is currently a member of the governing board for the Women in CyberSecurity Conference (WiCyS.org).
Howard Grimes
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Howard Grimes is a noted research scientist and author with 25 years of success in directing complex university and National Laboratory research programs and entrepreneurial start-up initiatives. Currently, he also serves as the Associate Vice Provost and Vice President for Institutional Initiatives at UTSA. Previously, he was Director for Innovation and Industry Partnerships (3 years) at INL’s Idaho CAES.