IT student earns top honor for cybersecurity research

When Sarah Hershberger, a sophomore in JMU’s Information Technology program, attended the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) conference for the first time, she expected to present her research and learn more about the field.

She did not expect to leave with the conference’s Best Undergraduate Research Poster Award. “I was just expecting to go and give the presentation,” Hershberger said. “I wasn’t expecting to get anything.”

The WiCyS conference, held near Washington, D.C., brings together students, researchers and industry professionals from across the cybersecurity field. The event includes technical presentations, workshops, networking opportunities and a career fair designed to support women pursuing careers in cybersecurity.

Hershberger’s project focused on the security of industrial control systems, including programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used in critical infrastructure. “They’re the little computers that are in elevators, conveyor belts and nuclear power plants,” Hershberger said.

Hershberger’s research explored vulnerabilities within those systems and ways to detect unauthorized changes in their memory and programming.

According to Dr. Adeen Ayub, an Information Technology professor and Hershberger’s advisor, industrial control systems security is generally underrepresented in cybersecurity research. “It’s not a very straightforward field,” Ayub said.

Hershberger said the project pushed her into a new kind of learning environment, where she had to gather information independently and troubleshoot problems.

While the research itself was highly technical, Hershberger said one of the most memorable parts of the conference was the environment and the people she met. “It was very supportive,” she said.

For Hershberger, the conference became an opportunity not only to present research but also to connect with professionals across the industry. She connected with professionals from companies including Google, Palo Alto Networks and Lockheed Martin.

She said many of those conversations turned into meaningful networking opportunities and career advice. One interaction led to a connection with a startup founder working in healthcare technology, an area Hershberger hopes to pursue in her own career. “What I want to do is an intersection of cybersecurity and healthcare,” Hershberger said. “That’s my end goal.”

Although Hershberger attended the conference hoping to gain experience, she ultimately left with the conference’s Best Undergraduate Research Poster Award. “I looked at the screen in front of me and then I saw my name,” Hershberger said. “It was just surreal.”

For Ayub, the moment carried additional meaning. When she attended the WiCyS conference as a graduate student in 2021, she also received a top poster award. This year marked her first time attending as a faculty member. “My first time attending as a student, I won best graduate research poster,” Ayub said. “Now, my first time attending as a faculty member, my student won the research poster award.”

Hershberger credits much of her success to the support she has received from faculty.

“The professors are mentoring undergraduate students,” Ayub added.

She also said taking initiative has helped her pursue opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. “The main reason that I’m able to do opportunities, in my opinion, is because I go to office hours, I ask questions,” Hershberger said.

After her first trip to WiCyS, Hershberger said she is excited to continue exploring cybersecurity, particularly at the intersection of healthcare and technology.