Distinguished Guest Lecture Featuring Dr. Dongyan Xu (Purdue University) — April 2
FICS Research is honored to host Dr. Dongyan Xu, Samuel D. Conte Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). Dr. Xu’s research contributions lie broadly in systems security and cyber-physical security, with particular emphasis on autonomous systems, industrial control infrastructures, and supply chain ecosystems. Dr. Xu will be presenting his talk entitled “Towards a Cross-Plane Methodology for Cyber-Physical Security“ at Malachowsky Hall Room 1000, 11am on April 2nd 2026.
Abstract:
The scope of cybersecurity has expanded substantially over the past decade, evolving from a primary focus on “cyber-only” systems—such as distributed computation frameworks, web-based services, and mobile platforms—to encompass increasingly complex cyber-physical systems (CPS), including smart energy grids, autonomous vehicular systems, and modern manufacturing environments. This transition has introduced fundamentally new threat surfaces and adversarial capabilities that challenge traditional security assumptions and methodologies.
Unlike conventional computing systems, CPS exhibit tight coupling between computational processes and physical dynamics, thereby necessitating security frameworks that account for both domains in an integrated and principled manner. Consequently, ensuring the security and resilience of CPS requires rethinking existing approaches to vulnerability analysis, threat modeling, and system assurance.
In this talk, Dr. Xu will articulate key challenges inherent to cyber-physical security that are absent in classical computer security settings. He will present a cross-plane analytical methodology that jointly considers cyber and physical dimensions for systematic vulnerability discovery, validation, and mitigation. The discussion will further highlight ongoing research efforts that instantiate this methodology, with the aim of advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary foundations for securing next-generation cyber-physical systems.