  |
|
 |
Sim CityJames Madison University's new institute for infrastructure and information security could transform Harrisonburg into a center for computer modeling and simulation.
After 25 years in military intelligence and three in the CIA, Bob Cofod started a
government-contracting company in Fairfax County. Several years ago, he helped a federal insurance program clean up after two
Russians had bilked it for $1.2 billion. That led to a gig with CHAMPUS, the military healthcare program, which brought him in
to spot fraud in its claims processing. And that job, in turn, won him business with Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C.
Studying the behavioral patterns of crooks and fraud artists, Cofod developed algorithms - mathematical formulae - that can flag suspicious patterns of activity buried in a mountain of data. After 9/11 heightened awareness of the terrorist threat, he found new markets tracking down money laundering and the movement of terrorist funds. Three years, Cofod took on outside investors. One of them, Harrisonburg attorney Nathan Miller, convinced him to set up his business, Fraud Detect, in the recently organized Virginia Technology Incubator. Now his services are catching on with the banking industry, Cofod says, and he's getting queries from around the world for his system that catches people writing bad checks on closed bank accounts. There's just one hitch: He needs a secure information system. To satisfy banking auditors, he can't store sensitive banking data on any old mom-and-pop server. Thanks to the Institute for Infrastructure and Information Assuredness located in nearby James Madison University, Cofod is ready to do business. The state-funded center awarded nearly $30,000, matched by private funds, to upgrade the physical security of the incubator and to fortify the firewalls of the network that Fraud Detect shares with other incubator tenants. The company is still small - only four or five employees in Harrisonburg, plus another 10 in Maryland - but Cofod says he expects banking services to grow rapidly now that his network meets banking industry standards. Fraud Detect's expansion will be the first tangible benefit to the Shenandoah Valley private-sector economy resulting from the presence of the JMU institute. The think tank combines two related academic centers: the state-funded Commonwealth Information Security Center (CISC) and the federally funded Critical Infrastructure Protection Project (CIP). These academic-sounding names numb the tongue like a shot of Novocaine, but they are critical to the future of JMU - and they could help attract more knowledge-based businesses to the region. More. How JMU's IIIA Can Help Business
Cyber DuelAt JMU's CyberRange lab, business IT teams soon will be defending simulated replicas of their networks against students posing as bad guys.How vulnerable is your computer network to attack by a hacker, competitor or cyber-terrorist? You can sit and wait, crossing your fingers and hoping your IT staff can identify an intrusion before it wreaks havoc. Or you can build a model of your network and defend against a simulated attack while friendly attackers probe for weaknesses. In the past, that kind of proactive exercise has been expensive, accessible only to larger corporations. But now it's free -- at least if you do business within easy driving distance of Harrisonburg. By the end of the year, James Madison University expects to make available CyberRange, its network security testing lab, to the business community. As part of the Institute for Infrastructure and Information Security, supported by state and federal funds, CyberRange will give small organizations the means to tighten up their network defenses. More. When Wylde Women Dream
"I paint about women and their power, of historically their lack of power," says Mason, a Mount Jackson native. "I paint about women and their struggles with the roles assigned to them. I paint about women reaching beyond their roles and into their power." Miller is entranced by the simple things in life: "In my simple vignettes I hope to capture and translate my sense of wonder in the world, playfulness, and maybe even the magic that the little person inside me still remembers." Besides organizing the gallery tour and exhibition - "When Wylde Women Dream" -- the feisty femmes are working on some new ideas, like producing a deck of cards tentatively called "Wylde Women, Personal Power." Says Mason: "The energy is terrific and just carries us along to who knows where." Labor of LoveTwo moms living in the Valley have developed a global audience of 22,000 readers for their thought-provoking parenting magazine. Harrisonburg's Jennifer Niesslein and Lexington's Stephanie Wilkinson, both graduates of the University of Virginia, publish "Brain, Child: the magazine for thinking mothers." The magazine dishes out book reviews, light-hearted essays, serious debates on current issues and letters from their readers. Read the profile in the University's of Virginia's A&S Online. |
|
|
|
International Export Trade Basics In a world of global trade, U.S. companies work to build relationships with foreign countries to expand sales of products and technologies beyond domestic borders. But, routine sales or human resource practices could be placing U.S. companies at risk of violating export regulations. More.
Bea Maurer Inc. has completed a 32,000-square-foot addition to its Fairfield plant manufacturing the company's Base-X Expedition Shelter. (The News Gazette, Sepetember 9, 2003). More ComSonics, Inc., an employee-owned broadband repair services provider based in Harrisonburg, will expand its contract manufacturing division to a new location in Weyers Cave. (Press release, September 9, 2003.) More Lantz Construction Company, of Broadway, was awarded the contract for the construction of a 13,425 square building for the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). (Press release, Sept. 19, 2003) More Lantz Construction Company has been awarded a contract for the renovation and addition to the Lucy Simms School, a facility in Harrisonburg built shortly after the Civil War to educate African-Americans. (Press release, November 6, 2003.) More Nielsen Builders' Tilt-Up Division, of Harrisonburg, has raised all of the concrete wall sections for a new 90,000-square-foot building south of Harrisonburg for The Warehouse Company. (Website feature.) More NTELOS Inc., a Waynesboro-based telecommunications provider, has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 proceedings. The restructured company will be privately held, with NTELOS' former senior note holders owning approximately 94 percent of the new common stock. (Press Release, Sept. 9, 2003) More SEI Technology, of Harrisonburg, has won a $1 million contract with the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide direct mail services. SEIT will provide the services primarily through a subcontractor, 1st Class Services, in Harrisonburg. (Press release, Sept. 19, 2003) More Specialty Blades, Inc., a Staunton-based manufacturer of high-performance cutting blades, has achieved certification the new ISO 9001-2000 quality system requirements. (Press release, September 27, 2003). More The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has mailed $1.5 million in checks to poultry producers in Rockingham, Augusta, Page, Shenandoah, Highland and Greene Counties who were affected by the 2002 outbreak of Avian Influenza. (Press release, October 20, 2003). More
The Homestead, of Hot Springs, has named Barbara Werley M.S., one of only 13 women worldwide to have achieved the distinction of Master Sommelier, as the luxury resort's Master Sommelier and Beverage Director. (Press release, August 20, 2003) More Lantz Construction Company, of Broadway, has hired Solomon Peterson, AIA, to manage the company's Design & Engineering Department. (Press release, August 28, 2003) More
The Homestead, at Hot Springs, has unveiled a six-part cooking school series, featuring instruction and demonstration from several of today's most acclaimed chefs, including Frank Morales, Roberta Donna and Christina Pirello. The series will run from October through March 2004. (Press release, September 30, 2003) More David Cottrell, an associate professor in music at James Madison University, has won an Emmy Award for the musical score for a National Geographic Explorer documentary, "Stalking Leopards." JMU Assistant Professor Michele Kirkdorffer played oboe and English horn in the score. (Press release, September 16, 2003) More
Grants and other external funding for research, instruction, public service and other scholarly activities to James Madison University and its faculty and researchers topped the $20 million mark for the first time in 2002-03. (Press release, August 26, 2003). More A group of chemists at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, has been awarded a second National Science Foundation grant in their continuing integration of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in their classes and student-assisted research endeavors. (News Gazette, September 3, 2003). More
Blue Ridge Community College has opened a new, 21,000-square-foot facility for its Division of Workforce Services and Continuing Education. (Press release, September 9, 2003). More The James Madison University board of visitors gave approval for the university to award two new degrees: a B.S. in health services administration and a B.S. in athletic training. (Press release, October 4, 2003). More James Madison University ranked 15th in the nation in a new survey by the Princeton Review of "The Top 25 Most Connected Campuses," identifying colleges with cutting-edge technology for its students. (Press release, October 2, 2003). More Enrollment at James Madison University reached a record 15,769 in the fall 2003 semester, a slight increase over last year's 15,612. (Press release, September 29, 2003). More Enrollment at Mary Baldwin College has reached a record 2,240 this fall at the main campus in Staunton and five regional centers across Virginia; enrollment has more than doubled in the masters program in Shakespeare studies. (Press release, August 28, 2003). More Mary Baldwin College was ranked again by U.S News & World-report in the top tier of master's -level universities in the South. (Press release, August 22, 2003). More Southern Virginia University achieved a record enrollment of 518 students in the fall semester, an increase of 18 percent from the previous year. (Press Release, October 9, 2003). More The Civil Engineering Department at Virginia Military Institute was rated 7th best in the nation, among schools whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's, by U.S News & World-Report. (Press Release, August 22, 2003) More Washington and Lee University has been ranked the 12th best liberal arts institution in the country, up from 15th place last year, according to U.S. News & World Report. (Press release, August 22, 2003). More |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||
Shenandoah Valley Partnership | 540-568-3100 | svp@jmu.edu Newsletter publisher | Shenandoah@baconsrebellion.com Copyright 2003 Shenandoah Valley Partnership, all rights reserved. | ||