On April 28, 2025, a major power outage affected millions across Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France due to what authorities described as a “.” Although the exact cause was not immediately confirmed, concerns quickly arose about the possibility of a cyberattack. Such trepidation highlights how in today’s interconnected world, something as simple as a phishing email can trigger a chain reaction that jeopardizes the safety and well-being of millions.

Recognizing the exponentially growing importance of cybersecurity, the College of Arts and Sciences’ (A&S’)  (Forensics Institute) offers a  in partnership with the  (iSchool). This program is designed to equip future professionals with the critical skills needed to safeguard sensitive information and infrastructure while holding malicious actors accountable. The M.S. blends courses in digital forensics, cybersecurity and data analytics with advanced forensic science and crime scene investigation.

What Are Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics?

While closely interconnected, these disciplines represent proactive and reactive approaches to managing digital threats. Whereas cybersecurity focuses on preventing attacks and protecting digital infrastructure, digital forensics is concerned with investigating breaches in established cybersecurity and identifying the cause, scope and perpetrators of the attack.

With digital evidence now central to over 90% of criminal cases, as reported in the , the program equips students for careers in cybersecurity, digital investigations and intelligence analysis. They also gain hands-on experience through fieldwork at top-tier facilities, including federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, along with various crime laboratories and prosecutor’s offices.

Learning from Leaders in Cybersecurity

A key strength of the program is the access students have to faculty who are actively engaged in cutting-edge, practical research. A prime example is , courtesy research professor and adjunct professor of forensics who also received a master’s degree in forensic science from A&S and a Ph.D. in cybersecurity from the Federal University of Technology Paraná in Brazil. When not teaching courses at Syracuse, he is conducting international research with organizations like the Brazilian Army at the Military Institute of Engineering.

“We focus on developing advanced simulated environments that can replicate everything from energy substations to entire distribution systems,” says Lemos about his current work. “These environments allow us to simulate cyberattacks and study system and device behavior, including the integration of physical equipment.”

Over the past decade, Lemos says the significant rise in attacks on critical infrastructure, such as the  in 2015 and the  in 2021, which significantly affected fuel supply to the U.S. East Coast, emphasize the growing need for highly trained professionals to work in both prevention and incident response.

Ensuring Grid Resilience

Lemos’ work in Brazil involves safeguarding that country’s power supply by exploring how systems react before, during and after an incident—without the risks or costs associated with testing real infrastructure.

“These simulations help uncover vulnerabilities, assess system resilience and evaluate the effectiveness of various detection and defense mechanisms. They also support the development of robust incident response plans and recovery protocols,” Lemos says. In turn, he brings this expertise and a deeper, more practical understanding of how to protect critical systems into the classroom at Syracuse, enriching the learning experience for students.

In his course, Computational Forensics, students are introduced to cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. These tools are vital in the field of cybersecurity to sift through vast amounts of network traffic data to detect unusual patterns. By tackling practical forensic problems, students develop both the technical expertise and an analytical mindset essential for careers in cybersecurity and digital investigations.

Lemos sees sharing the professional knowledge he’s gained as a meaningful way to give back, recognizing the pivotal role his A&S education played in shaping his career.

“My education at Syracuse University was foundational to the work I do today,” he says. “The combination of strong theoretical grounding and hands-on experience—guided by professors who are both researchers and practitioners—gave me the tools to engage with real-world cybersecurity challenges. I’m grateful for the opportunity to support students as they prepare for impactful careers in high-stakes fields like military operations and critical infrastructure systems.”

By combining rigorous academic instruction with applied learning and direct engagement with faculty leading global initiatives, the Forensics Institute equips students to confront today’s complex digital threats. This integrated approach aligns with the University’s and A&S’s priorities of preparing students for careers in emerging and innovative technologies.

University researchers with groundbreaking ideas in semiconductors, microelectronics or advanced materials are invited to apply for an entrepreneurship-focused hybrid course offered through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program.

The free virtual course runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, with an opportunity for an in-person immersion experience at SEMICON West, North America’s premier microelectronics conference, in Phoenix, Arizona, Oct. 7-9. Interested individuals can .

Hosted by Syracuse University and the University of Rochester as part of the Interior Northeast I-Corps Hub (IN I-Corps), this NSF-sponsored course is open to faculty, postdocs, Ph.D. and master’s students, undergraduates and community-based startups working on semiconductor-related technologies with commercial potential. Syracuse’s NSF I-Corps program is a partnership between , �����Ի���.

Teams selected to participate may receive up to $5,000 in travel reimbursement, enabling participants to conduct in-person customer discovery interviews and attend specialized workshops during SEMICON West. Participation in this conference provides unmatched exposure to global industry leaders, cutting-edge technologies and potential collaborators or customers. Conference attendees include executives, engineers, startups and policy leaders shaping the future of chips.

The course provides hands-on entrepreneurship training and one-on-one coaching tailored to researchers working in far-reaching sectors, from advanced lithography and transistor miniaturization to artificial intelligence hardware and high-power materials. The course emphasizes emerging areas critical to the next generation of semiconductor innovation. Applications can range from 3D integrated circuits, system-on-chip integration and computing chips that mimic the human brain’s neural architecture for tasks like pattern recognition, learning and sensory processing. Big data and machine learning innovations are of interest, as well as conventional semiconductor design and manufacturing applications.

The course is of benefit to anyone interested in being part of the research, design, commercialization and supply chain associated with these industries.

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The chemistry of U.S. rivers is changing—and will change further in complex ways in different regions of the country. Scientists are exploring ways to predict future changes in watershed chemistry, which could improve managing them for climate change and community health.

University researchers are combining traditional geochemistry with artificial intelligence to predict how alkalinity—a measure of a solution’s ability to neutralize acids—and salts in rivers around the country could be affected by further climate warming and population growth, according to a study published in .

The research team was led by , assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Wen also directs the���������Dz���dz���𳾾����ٰ�����And eN�������DzԳ���Գٲ�����D���ٲ���Sciences (HANDS) and Noble Gases in E�����ٳ���S����ٱ𳾲���Tracing (NEST) research laboratories.

An excess of salt can make water undrinkable, increase the cost of treating water and harm freshwater fish and wildlife.

Past research shows that as salt levels in U.S. rivers have gone up, these waters have also become more alkaline, which can damage water, wastewater treatment and aquatic life. Increased alkalinity is occurring because of rising temperatures and more rainfall. Human activities, such as more people living in certain areas, might also contribute to it.

Yet alkalinity is also beneficial. When river waters are more alkaline, they help draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and limit climate warming over time. However, before rivers can be harnessed for this purpose, researchers must first understand the basic chemistry at play.

Using machine learning models, the Wen team projected how salinity—measured through sodium levels—and alkalinity will change in 226 U.S. rivers between 2040 and 2100 under different climate and human population scenarios.

In northern states, rivers would become less salty because warmer winters mean less salt will be applied on icy roads. However, in the South and West, where people don’t use much road salt, river salinity will likely stay the same. But as these areas get hotter and drier, more salt from the soil might accumulate and wash into waterways.

The study also found that rising temperature can affect alkalinity. In watersheds rich in carbonate rocks, such as limestone, researchers found that alkalinity flux—the product of the natural breakdown of rock minerals—declines when temperatures surpass 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). This finding suggests that warming past a certain temperature level could suppress alkalinity in rivers.

However, in watersheds dominated by silicate rocks or organic carbon, higher temperatures accelerate silicate weathering and the decomposition of organic material, leading to increased alkalinity levels. More rainfall can also increase the amount of these chemicals in rivers, but only up to a certain point.

In the future, some watersheds with lower alkalinity could be manipulated to take up additional alkaline from watersheds, allowing rivers to sequester more carbon from the atmosphere.

For this and other multidisciplinary research, Wen received a 2025 . The award highlights excellent work by independent researchers in their early career that bring new insights into the field of geochemistry or to promote geochemical applications.

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Story by John H. Tibbetts

A professor who is an expert on criminal court pretrial appearance is partnering with computer science faculty to see if artificial intelligence tools and optimized data analysis can improve fairness and efficiency in scheduling defendants’ court dates.

, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and a 2022-25 Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, is one of three researchers on the project, “.” She and , assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia (formerly of Syracuse University) and , associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis received a $600,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for the research. They are examining three issues: the uniformity and fairness of criminal court-date scheduling processes, if individual circumstances are considered when setting court dates, and whether a “smarter” computerized system can produce more equity and efficiency in those processes.

Ensuring that defendants who are released before trial return to court as scheduled is one of the primary goals of the pretrial process, Gouldin says. “Fortunately, data across jurisdictions suggest that most defendants show up for court as required. With bail reform efforts in many jurisdictions leading to higher rates of pretrial release, courts are focused on ensuring that pretrial appearance rates remain high,” she says.

Scheduling court appearances on dates and at times that work for defendants will help keep pretrial appearance rates high and avoid court system inefficiencies, she believes. Many factors—often legitimate hardships—can influence whether a defendant appears in court when scheduled. Gouldin says those factors are not consistently considered by courts and there is little uniformity in how appearance dates are scheduled from court to court.

The researchers are working to produce a system that predicts dates and times when defendants are more likely to appear versus being assigned an arbitrary court date or time. They believe having that knowledge, along with more flexibility in scheduling court dates—such as setting evening or weekend appearance dates—could improve pretrial appearance rates and create a more equitable scheduling process overall.

No-Show Factors

“Whether a defendant can appear in court when assigned depends on individual circumstances. Some may have work or school obligations or need to find childcare or arrange transportation. Others having substance addictions or mental health issues may be more at risk to miss dates; some defendants just don’t understand the court system; and people with disabilities may face specific challenges getting to court on time. In addition, some defendants who must repeatedly return to court can wait all day for their cases to be called, then find out the proceedings are postponed for a month,” Gouldin says.

But criminal courts can be inflexible, she adds. “Maintaining a perfect attendance record under these circumstances, and when so many court appearances are adjourned seems especially unreasonable. I believe courts can likely improve pretrial appearance rates by developing more flexible scheduling practices that account for these challenges.”

Data Input

This summer, Gouldin is working with research assistants to develop partnerships with judges, court administrators, pretrial service offices and criminal defense organizations in Syracuse and across New York State to collect data on the information that courts consider and the processes they use to schedule criminal cases.

Fioretto and Yeoh will take that data and apply what they call “” a scheduling approach that integrates machine learning algorithms with mathematical optimization and computerized logical reasoning. The AI-based approach aims to predict dates and times when an individual would be more likely to be able to appear in court. The researchers will incorporate defendants’ potential constraints into the date predictions and then develop mechanisms to ensure that court appearances are scheduled fairly for defendants of different races and genders.

Time, Money Costs

Fairness is an important consideration because judges can impose consequences for missing scheduled appearances even when defendants have justifiable reasons for not showing up, according to Gouldin. “Judges often make high-stakes decisions that implicate fundamental liberty interests, such as detaining defendants before trial or imposing bail, electronic monitoring, pretrial supervision or curfews. Failures to appear also become part of a defendant’s court record and may impact future pretrial liberty.”

The researchers are also mindful of the court’s administrative efficiency goals. Missed court dates mean inconveniences and costs of time and money for judges, attorneys, court personnel, witnesses and other defendants whose cases may be delayed as a result, as well.

Phase 2

Gouldin hopes eventually to gather court appearance data that will include defendants’ demographic details to assess whether specific factors affect the ability or inability to meet a pre-set court appointment. That step could reveal further ways to increase fairness in scheduling, she says. Having individuals return for their court appearances is more important than ever now, Gouldin says, because pretrial reforms in the U.S. over the past 10 years have overhauled traditional money bail systems so that more defendants are released before trial.

Gouldin’s pre-trial appearance work has been cited in federal court decisions, in state and federal amicus briefs and in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. In 2022, she served as a consulting expert for federal litigation where a Tulsa County, Oklahoma money bail system was eventually deemed unconstitutional. Her article, “Keeping Up Appearances,” an analysis of law and policies governing pretrial appearance, which has been developed in part with the support of the NSF grant, is due to be published in the University of California Davis Law Review later this year.

Second-year graduate student grew up designing and building projects with her father in their backyard. She also loved spending time with her family surveying the night sky. As a young child, she wanted to be an astronaut. So, it’s no wonder that the young woman, who is passionate about her aerospace engineering research, recently earned one of 60 (NASA) awards presented to university students across the United States this year.

When she first started thinking about a career in design while in high school, her father suggested space architecture—a field that combines her love of both science and design—“and it clicked,” she says. Those interests brought her first to the University’s , where she earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 2023.

Starting With SOURCE

Now, Hoe is a graduate research assistant in Assistant Professor  Yeqing Wang’s in the . (ECS). She first contacted Wang in spring 2022 regarding her interest in research on lunar regolith, the dry, loose soil found on the Moon. Wang encouraged her to apply for an undergraduate research grant from the (SOURCE). She was awarded a grant, and, with Wang as her sponsor, began working in his lab that summer.

After Hoe completed her undergraduate degree, Wang encouraged her to pursue graduate studies at ECS, starting as a master’s student in the program. That allowed her to continue her work on lunar regolith composites.

Based on her excellent academic record and outstanding research experience, Wang says, he offered her a graduate research assistant position, a role that covers tuition, living expenses and insurance. The position was co-sponsored by Jensen Zhang, executive director of the Syracuse Center of Excellence and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. In addition to researching lunar regolith composites, Hoe has collaborated with Zhang and Wang on developing metal-organic-framework materials and devices for air purification applications. In fall 2023, Wang encouraged Hoe to apply to pursue a doctoral degree.

The NASA award was presented for Hoe’s proposal, “,” with Wang serving as principal investigator. The recognition provides her with a prestigious designation as a NASA Space Technology graduate research fellow, Wang says.

Compression Testing

In her research, Hoe uses urea and carbon nanotube additives and integrates them into the lunar regolith material with an acidic solution, then compresses the composite cylinder that forms from the substances to test how varied compositions affect its strength. The lunar regolith and urea can be sourced on site in space, a factor that significantly reduces the payload required to transport the materials from Earth to space.

Soon, Hoe will add experiments that examine the impact of lunar freeze/thaw cycles on the composite and test mechanical strength to gauge fabrication ability. Ultimately, she wants to identify an optimum formulation of the composite that is sufficiently strong and remotely mixable so it can be extruded from 3D printers to form lunar habitats. NASA believes the technology will permit structures to be built in outer space for use by humans on the moon and Mars, Hoe says, and its Marshall Space Flight Center is conducting regolith research for that purpose. She also believes the push for space exploration now being made by several companies will create a need for the habitats.

Hoe has already sketched some designs for those space pods, envisioning small, connected, 3D-printed modules. Her ideas are partially inspired by biomimicry and her work with School of Architecture Assistant Professor . Biomimicry design takes its cues from nature, such as the way ants or bees build colonies.

Two Perspectives

Hoe believes her dual perspectives and the expertise she is developing will be particularly appealing to employers in the future. “We see the architecture aspect, the engineering aspect and the commercialization aspect to space structures. What we don’t commonly see right now is an architect who also has an engineering degree. That’s where I hope to fit in and meet the industry—between the architectural side that considers design for human comfort and the engineering side that incorporates the practicality of how to fabricate the structures. I am hoping that by the time I’ve completed my doctorate there will be more opportunities for space architects, and NASA is definitely where I want to be,” she says.

Wang says the NASA award “provides an exciting opportunity to collaborate closely with our NASA partners on researching composite material systems for space habitation. It also acknowledges our talented graduate student for her pioneering research in lunar regolith composites and allows her to continue pursuing her dream of materials research for space habitation.”

Out-of-the-Box Pursuits

The student researcher has a history of out-of-the-box pursuits and believes that motivation and persistence can pay off. She is accustomed to others thinking that her goals may be unattainable, but most people have a positive reaction to her research, she says.

And though she began regolith design and testing in an engineering lab as an undergraduate, moving from an architectural focus to an engineering one has had its challenges, Hoe admits.

“It’s been a difficult transition from architecture to engineering since I’ve had to catch up on engineering requirements,” she says, though with her professor’s support and her passion for the work, she knows her goals are achievable. Her three engineering-oriented summer internships have provided learning experiences that have helped her understand how her strong design focus will assist her in engineering work, given current industry norms.

“I was able to demonstrate that an architecture background is useful in many projects and there were times engineering team members changed their opinions based on my contributions,” she says. “That’s why I encourage others to be passionate about something and to not give up on their dreams, even if others are not supportive.”