SAT Wins at COD Cyber Fire Cybersecurity Training Event

A team of Information Technology and Management students from Illinois Tech’s School of Applied Technology and a Wilbur Wright College graduate won first place in the United States Department of Energy Cyber Fire Cybersecurity Training Event, held November 25 at the College of DuPage (COD) in west suburban Glen Ellyn.  

Adjunct Industry Associate Professor Vasilios “Billy” Pappademetriou led 11 ITM students (along with the Wright College student), who formed two teams: the Bulldogs and the Nodes. The Bulldogs came up from behind to win first place. The participating students were ITM undergraduates Hannah Leland (Bulldogs), Tyrone Green (Nodes), Ryan Henderson (Nodes), and A. J. Winbush (Nodes); ITM graduate student Tarun Gidwani (Bulldogs); ITM accelerated master’s students Cooper Van Kampen (Bulldogs), Travis Smith (Bulldogs), and Andreas Vassilakos (Nodes); and Wright College graduate Maria Garcia (Bulldogs).      

Open to high school and college students, the event focused on finding solutions to puzzles in the categories of computer forensics, cryptography, general computer science, and mathematics, among others. If team members reached a sticking point, event staff stepped in to be of assistance.

“We should all be proud of our ITM students; they worked hard and came up from behind,” says Pappademetriou, who jokingly noted that the Bulldogs seemed to have shot up instantly from third place to the top spot after eating dinner. “The competition was fierce.”

Tony C. H. Chen (M.S. CS ’01) and Justin Wagner (ITM Master’s student), COD faculty members, both coordinated and oversaw the event.