FICS RESEARCH MOVES TO MALACHOWSKY HALL FOR DATA SCIENCE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
Designed to set the standard for future STEM buildings across national and international campuses and transform the artificial intelligence (AI) and data science workforce, the University of Florida Friday held a celebratory ribbon cutting for the Malachowsky Hall for Data Science & Information Technology.
Across the street from the Reitz Union in the heart of campus, the $150 million, 263,440-square-foot, seven-story structure is a multidisciplinary space for medicine, pharmacy, and engineering. It will serve as a hub for advancing computing, communication, and cyber technologies and further support UF’s work to integrate AI across the curriculum.
With its interdisciplinary focus, Malachowsky Hall will have units for various UF entities, such as the OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Network, coordinated by the College of Medicine; the Biomedical AI Collaborative, and the College of Pharmacy’s Consortium for Medical Marijuana Clinical Outcomes Research. The engineering spaces will serve as the headquarters for the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research, the Florida Semiconductor Institute, and the Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World. The hall also contains maker spaces for innovation in the fields of virtual reality, internet of things, as well as robotics and includes labs for AI, robotics, and cybersecurity.
This was originally published in UF News.
Dr. Butler’s Insight on UF’s Groundbreaking Ransomware Defense Strategies:
In a recent interview with University of Florida Research, Dr. Butler, the Director of the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research (FICS), shed light on the Institute’s cutting-edge efforts to combat ransomware. This cyber threat, which locks victims’ data and demands a ransom for its release, poses a significant risk to businesses and governments.
Under Dr. Butler’s guidance, the FICS researchers have been developing advanced solutions against ransomware for over six years. These efforts have led to the creation of some of the first effective defenses against this cyber menace. One of the key breakthroughs is a novel approach to protect data storage systems from being encrypted by ransomware, ensuring the safety and accessibility of crucial data.
Dr. Butler emphasized the Institute’s commitment to transitioning these laboratory innovations into practical tools for real-world application. This transition aims to equip businesses and government entities with robust defenses against increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks.
Click here for full interview.
Dr. Farimah Farahmandi, Assistant Professor (ECE), has received a DURIP grant award of $290k in funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in support of her efforts to equip the Silicon Design & Assurance (SiDA) lab with the ZeBu Emulator framework, manufactured by Synopsys. ZeBu, short for “Zero Bugs Emulation,” is a cutting-edge technology that plays a pivotal role in the development and validation of complex hardware and software systems enabling engineers to emulate and test their designs before the lengthy step of building physical prototypes.
Read the full news here.
Save the date, FICS conference will be held on April 9-10, 2024