A student team from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, has been crowned national champion in the first Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research and Employ (VICEROY) National Cyber Competition. The VICEROY Institute is a program of the Air Force Research Laboratory managed by the Griffiss Institute to provide support for a virtual institute at UAH to develop expertise in critical cyber and electromagnetic spectrum operational skills for future military and civilian leaders of the Armed Forces and the Department of Defense.
“The cybersecurity programs at UAH attract very talented students,” says Dr. Tommy Morris, the director of the UAH Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education (CCRE). “Two members of this national championship team are freshmen. In the UAH Cybersecurity Club, UAH students are training each other how to win cybersecurity competitions. Their dedication and the outcome is very impressive.”
In 2023, the UAH CCRE was awarded a grant from the Griffiss Institute for the VICEROY program which will run through 2025. UAH is the lead institution and is partnering with Alabama A&M University and the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE). UAH team members include Allan Benjume and Trey Graham, both majoring in computer science, as well as cybersecurity engineering students Jason Hatfield and Seth Bredbenner.
The UAH squad topped 19 other teams and completed all seven progressive levels of difficulty as part of the competition’s “Dr. Boom” challenge. Each level of the competition had students working in a unique scenario to use cyber techniques to defuse a bomb and stop “Dr. Boom.” UAH President Charles "Chuck" Karr and Provost David Puleo presented the winners with their National Championship banner.
