Handbook of Military and Defense Operations Research

I am pleased to share that the Handbook of Military and Defense Operations Research is now fully available in both print and digital formats! 

Here are the links to order/rent print/digital:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1138607339?pf_rd_r=9BES8TBFF5A8DDHAMBD5&pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8

CRC Press: https://www.crcpress.com/Handbook-of-Military-and-Defense-Operations-Research/Scala-II/p/book/9781138607330

Vitalsource digital: https://www.vitalsource.com/products/handbook-of-military-and-defense-operations-natalie-m-scala-v9780429883958?duration=90&gclid=Cj0KCQjw09HzBRDrARIsAG60GP8cokEik5ZxxFlBU-zlGe66bheUJg8ZlAH1sWF4dSDPYricQ2mBeJcaAhwnEALw_wcB

Academics in the military and security as well as operations research fields may want to consider adopting the book - or chapters from it - in upcoming courses.  The digital renting options via Vitalsource can make the handbook more accessible for students - at the time of this post, only $26 for 180 day rental.

I appreciate your interest in the handbook and hope it is beneficial to you!

Empowering Election Judges to Secure Our Elections

I am excited to share that a new paper on elections security is now in print! We discuss the training modules we’ve created for Maryland’s pollworkers, and discuss how the training can be used to educate pollworkers about potential cyber, physical, and insider threats that may emerge at polling places. Our modules are currently in use by some counties in Maryland during the 2020 Presidential Primary, and we aim to have additional counties adopt the training by this fall’s General Election.

Here is a link to the Baltimore Business Review issue. Our paper starts on page 10 in the digital issue, or page 8 in the printed version.

INFORMS What's Your StORy?

Interviewing for INFORMS’s monthly “What’s Your StORy?” feature was a fun experience!  I had the opportunity to discuss my research and upcoming book, my involvement with and benefits of being an INFORMS member, and experiences as a woman in the field.  A printed version of the interview appeared in the December 2019 issue of ORMS Today, and the live interview is available on YouTube.  Check it out!

 

Profiles of Elections Security Research

Our research on elections security continues to develop, and we are really excited about our county partnerships to implement our poll worker training modules for cyber, physical, and insider threats!  Two new articles summarize the updates to our work: the first article is a profile of our research initiative, and the second is a blog post written by graduate student Lorraine Black.  Lorraine does an excellent job describing her sustained role in this project and detailing how we are empowering poll workers through the training.  Find the article and blog on my Media page in the News Articles and Profiles of Student Researchers sections.

Two Published Journal Papers

The final published versions of two journal articles are now available on my Projects page.  The first article, “Risk and the Five Hard Problems of Cybersecurity,” appeared in the October 2019 issue of Risk Analysis: An International Journal.  In this article, we examine the National Security Agency’s Five Hard Problems of Cybersecurity, and identify opportunities for analysts to apply risk models and approaches to these problems.  A link to this article is in the Cybersecurity section of my Projects page.

The second article, “A Survey Comparing Critical Path Method, Last Planner System, and Location-Based Techniques,” appeared in the December 2019 issue of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, which is an A* journal on the Australian Business Deans Council journal list.  This study compares and contrasts the use of Critical Path Method (CPM), Last Planner System (LPS), and Location-Based Techniques (LB) in the planning and control phases of project management and project production management. We find benefits related to critical path analysis and managing contracts using CPM and improved production control with LB and LPS, and our survey included professionals from the United States of America, Finland, and Brazil.  A link to the article is in the Other Areas section of my Projects page, and a link to the pre-production accepted version is also available there, in accordance with ASCE’s Publication Policy.

Risk Analysis Article in Advance

Earlier this spring, my perspectives article with Allison C. Reilly, Paul L. Goethals, and Michel Cukier became available online as an article in advance accepted to Risk Analysis: An International Journal. In this article, we examine the National Security Agency’s Five Hard Problems of Cybersecurity, and propose opportunities for analysts to apply risk models and approaches to these problems. Both the cybersecurity and risk fields can benefit from increased collaboration, and we outline related benefits in the article. A link to the article is in the Cybersecurity section of my Projects page.

News Updates

A few new updates to my Media page…

The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers interviewed me for their June 2019 feature “What’s Your Story?” which appears in ISE Magazine. I discussed my work in elections security and how it fits within the Industrial Engineering space. Also, Towson University’s newsroom included me in a June 2019 article about Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra.

My student researchers are awesome and making news of their own! Hannah Locraft and Priya Gajendiran were profiled in February 2019 by the ACES program at the University of Maryland. Hannah and Priya worked extensively on elections security during summer 2018. Dominique Hawkins and Saraubi Harrison were both profiled by Towson University as outstanding spring 2019 graduating seniors. Dominique is a researcher on my grant with the Construction Industry Institute, and Saraubi played an integral role in my elections security research.

You can see all of these updates on my Media page.