Our Investigators

Dr. Alec Yasinsac
Dr. Yasinsac is a Professor and Dean, School of Computing, University of South Alabama. He received his Doctorate in Computer Science at the University of Virginia, is a Senior Member of IEEE and a department co-editor for IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine. He has published over 65 refereed papers, mostly on information security issues. Research interests: Insider threats, risk assessment, and electronic voting systems security.

Three Relevant Publications:
1. Yasinsac, A., and Pardue, H., “Voting System Risk Assessment: A Process Using Threat Trees,” Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, Vol. 4, Issue #1, April 2011.
2. Yasinsac, A., “Insider Threats to Voting Systems,” Workshop on Governance of Technology, Information, and Policies (GTIP), December 7, 2010.
3. Yasinsac, A., and Bishop, Matt., “The Dynamics of Counting and Recounting Votes,” IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine, May-June 2008, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 22-29.
Dr. Harold Pardue
Dr. Pardue is a Professor of Information Systems in the School of Computing and coordinator of the IS and IT degree programs. His Ph.D. in MIS is from the Florida State University, 1996. His current research interests include Security and Risk assessment in voting and healthcare systems, and health informatics and Information Systems education. His work has been published in a wide variety of venues.

Two Relevant Publications:
1. Pardue, H., Patidar, P., Landry, J., Johnsten, T., and Campbell, M., (2011) “A Threat Tree for Health Information Security and Privacy,” Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2011), August 2011, Detroit, MI.
2. Campbell, M., Pardue, H., Longnecker, B., Barnett, L., and Landry, J., (2011 “Treating the Healthcare Workforce Crisis: A Prescription for a health Informatics Curriculum” in the proceedings of ISECON 2011.
Dr. Jeffrey P. Landry
Dr. Landry, Ph.D., MBA, is a Professor in the School of Computing. He is an experienced researcher, participating in a federally funded project for assessing risk in elections operations. Dr. Landry has published in journals such as the Communications of the ACM and Journal of Information Systems Education, in 39 conference proceedings, and in two edited books. He received his doctoral degree in Information and Management Sciences from Florida State University in May 1999.

Two Relevant Publications:
1. Landry, J., Daigle, R., Pardue, H., Longnecker, B., and Campbell, M., (2011) “Health Informatics as an ABET-CAC Accreditable IS Program” in the proceedings of ISECON 2011.
2. Longnecker, B., Campbell, M., Landry, J., Pardue, H., and Daigle, R., (2011) “A Health Informatics Curriculum Compatible with IS2010 and IMIA Recommendations for an Undergraduate Degree,” in the proceedings of ISECON 2011.
Mr. Les Barnett
Les Barnett is the Director of the Center for Forensics, Information Technology, and Security (CFITS) at the University of South Alabama. He brings over 30 years of business management experience, most of which was in the information technology industry. Mr. Barnett was a founder of Omniphone, Inc. and operated that company as president and CEO for twenty years, retiring in 2008.
Dr. Robert Sweeney
Dr. Bob Sweeney is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Sciences. He has a Ph.D. in Business Administration with a major in Management Information Systems from the University of Memphis. His research interests include web application vulnerabilities and security, the study of web technologies to support student experiential learning, and the incorporation of creativity and HIPAA certification into academic model curriculum guidelines.

Two Relevant Publications:
1. “HIPAA Certification and Training Guidelines for Healthcare Organizations: An IS 2002 Model Curriculum Implementation.” D. Sweatt, H. E. Longenecker, Jr., and R. Sweeney. Information Systems Educator’sDigital Journal (ISEDJ), Volume 4, Number 101, October 20, 2006.
2. “A Case Study in Optimizing Computer Laboratory Resources: The High-Speed Backup and Restoration (HiSBaR) System for Computer Lab Workstations." R. Sweeney. Information Systems Educator’s Digital Journal (ISEDJ). Volume 4, Number 9, February 15, 2006.
Dr. Todd R. Andel
Dr. Andel is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computing. He received his Ph.D. from the Florida State University and is a Member of the IEEE and ACM. He has published over 23 papers and journals related to security protocols, network security, formal methods, cyber defense, and systems design. Research interests include network security protocol assessment, electronic voting systems security, and embedded systems protection.

Relevant Publication:
1. T. Andel, G. Back, and A. Yasinsac, "Automating the Security Analysis Process of Secure Ad Hoc Routing," Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 19(9):2032- 2049, October 2011.
Dr. J. Todd McDonald
Dr. McDonald is an Associate Professor of Computer Science, School of Computing. He received his Doctorate in Computer Science at Florida State University, is a Member of IEEE and ACM. He has published over twenty five refereed papers, mostly on cyber and software security. Research interests include circuit and hardware protection, malware and vulnerability analysis, and reverse engineering.

Relevant Publication:
1. J. Todd McDonald and Eric Trias, editors, Special Issue: Cyber Defense --Methodologies and Techniques for Evaluation, Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, in press, Oct, ’12.
Dr. Natalia Stakhanova
Dr. Stakhanova is an Assistant Professor at the School of Computer and Information Science. She received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University in 2007. Prior to joining USA, Dr. Stakhanova was a Research Scientist at the Information Security Center of Excellence, University of New Brunswick, Canada. She has extensive research experience in intrusion detection and general information security. Dr. Stakhanova has taught several undergraduate and graduate courses including tutorials on intrusion detection and botnets at the Annual Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST). Dr. Stakhanova has published a number of research articles in refereed journals and conferences and was the recipient of the “Nokia Best Student Paper Award” at The IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA) in 2007. Dr. Stakhanova has two pending patents in the area of computer security.