Portland State Magazine Fall 2021

12 // PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE EDIS JURCYS PHOTOGRAPHY research DEFENDERS OF THE SMART GRID Portland State researchers lead efforts to protect the Pacific Northwest from cyber threats IMAGINE MASSIVE blackouts, the dis- ruption of essential government services, or hackers gaining access to millions of net- worked consumer devices. When it comes to cyber threats, national attention has primarily focused on defense, transportation and telecommunications, but Birol Yeşilada has been thinking about infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest. “For the federal government, much of the focus has been on upgrading and securing the top level of infrastructure from cyberat- tacks,” said Yeşilada, government faculty and director of Portland State University’s Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. “We also need a bottom-up approach if we’re going to protect what I call ‘America’s soft underbelly’—the vulnerabilities at local and regional governments, utilities and special districts serving the communities we live in.” Yeşilada is the principal investigator of a new two-year, $2 million grant awarded to PSU by the National Security Agency.The grant establishes and funds a consortium of public, private and academic partners that will address cybersecurity issues related to smart grid infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Colorado. Yeşilada will work with co-investigators Tugrul Daim, PSU engineering and tech- nology management faculty, and Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, executive director of the Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity at the University of Wash- ington Bothell. Portland State is the only Oregon university recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber- security by the federal government.The new grant solidifies the university’s regional leadership in the area of cybersecurity risk management. What’s the smart grid? It’s the electric grid of the 21st century, incorporating digital technology that enables two-way communi- cation between power utilities and custom- ers.Think smart meters that send electricity, gas or water usage data back to the supplier wirelessly in real time. The smart grid promises to improve transmission and integration of renewable sources like wind, solar and wave energy. It also makes it possible to reduce demand and mitigate the impact of power outages by Professors Birol Yeşilada (right) and Tugrul Daim (left).