Students take top honors at AWS AI event

Winning competitions is nothing new for cybersecurity students at the University of North Georgia (UNG), but they found a new competitive avenue to showcase their skills recently. UNG swept the top two team spots at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Gen AI Challenge at Norwich University in an event that featured all but one of the nation's six senior military colleges.

While most of their previous triumphs were more focused on code and capture-the-flag (CTF) tasks, UNG students excelled in this challenge in Northfield, Vermont, by calling upon their presentation and business skills.

Their scenario was to advise a vehicle manufacturer that had received a ransomware demand threatening to prey on a cyber vulnerability in certain cars unless the money was paid. Students presented to a fictional 12-person executive board that served as the judges for the competition.

UNG's first-place team included Stewart Cates, Thomas Murillo-Bivins and Dagen Shehorn. Shehorn also earned one of two outstanding presenter awards at the event.

"I was able to think on my feet and answer any curveball questions," said Shehorn, a junior from Evans, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity and red team captain for the CyberHawks student club at UNG.

In cybersecurity, the red team conducts offensive security by simulating enemy attacks to find vulnerabilities that need to be addressed.

Shehorn wants to work as a cyber defense contractor and hopes to bridge the gap between cyber and neuroscience in her career. The experiences she is receiving from the Department-of-War-funded UNG Institute for Cyber Operations, the CyberHawks and her coursework are laying a solid foundation for those goals.

"The community of CyberHawks allows us to not just talk about the theory, but also to learn and do different types of activities from people who have already done them," Shehorn said. "There are so many opportunities and so many people in CyberHawks who want to help you get where you want to be."

As different as this event may have been, it still called upon an important skill that UNG students possess in abundance.

"The CTF competitions are all about problem-solving," said Murillo-Bivins, a junior from Evans, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity. "You have to try every approach until you get the task done."

The second-place team from UNG featured James Goble, Luke Mallette and Brianna Walter.

"We have a very competitive culture. We like making our Institute for Cyber Operations look good," said Goble, a senior from Rome, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity. "Dr. Bryson Payne and Caitlin Conneely do so much work to support us, and this is our opportunity to pay them back for their investment in us."

Goble plans to work in cyber for the federal government.

Walter, a senior from Suwanee, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, completed an internship at Georgia Tech Research Institute this summer and plans to attend grad school at Georgia Tech. She pointed to the CyberHawks and UNG's Cyber Leader Development Program as instrumental in her growth.

"I could not imagine going through my classes without the knowledge I have gained in these programs," Walter said. "They teach you so many things you won't learn in class."

Conneely, deputy director for operations and outreach with the Institute for Cyber Operations, is proud to see the way these cyber students represent UNG.

"I'm always impressed by the level of dedication our students give to these competitions," she said.

Payne, director of the Institute for Cyber Operations, echoed that assessment.

"UNG is known for winning cyber competitions, but this win at the AWS GenAI Challenge shows that our computer science and cybersecurity students are also well-rounded, highly competent software engineers who can use the latest tools to solve problems in creative ways," Payne said. "They can present those solutions to business leaders clearly and confidently. UNG's leadership development makes our best students even better professionals for government and industry."