Best of the Month: October 2015

By Joel Delgado ’12 MS ’17 

With the fall semester in full swing, October was a big month for the FIU community. Below are some of the best stories from around the university:

Communication Arts student’s research leads to dream job

Communication Arts senior Christina Barahona has always known that she wanted to work in sports, but it took a Communication Arts directed study project to turn her dream into a reality.

During an internship with Major League Soccer club FC Dallas, she conducted research on the widespread use of social media by professional sports teams and create an analysis of which social media platforms were and would be most effective for FC Dallas.

Barahona was recently offered an outstanding opportunity to work with New York City’s Madison Square Garden, one of the top facilities in the country for sports and entertainment events.

To read the whole story, click here.

Protecting the nation’s power grid from cyber attacks

Researchers from FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing have teamed up with four other universities and a utility company to help safeguard the nation’s power utilities from cyber attacks.

The researchers from the different universities are working together as part of the DoE Center for Securing Electric Energy Delivery Systems (SEEDS), made possible by a $12.2 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy, augmented by $3.1 million in matching funds from the research participants.

The center’s researchers will address vulnerabilities and challenges in delivery systems of the U.S. power grid. Their goal is to protect hardware assets, make systems less susceptible to cyber attack and provide reliable delivery of power if such an attack were to occur.

To read the whole story, click here.

Tiny invention could revolutionize analytical chemistry

Just 2 centimeters long and 2 millimeters in diameter, a sorbent tube invented by an FIU researcher could bring analytical chemistry to the masses. The simple yet highly sensitive device is designed to sample volatile chemicals in the air, your home, food and even your body.

Called the CMV (capillary microextraction of volatiles), the device can sample air by drawing just a small amount of air through it.

FIU Inventor Jose Almirall, a chemist and director of the FIU International Forensic Research Institute, and alumnus Digno Caballero have formed IAD-x, LLC to further develop the device and expand research with the intent to put analytical chemistry within reach for the average person.

To read the whole story, click here.

Graduate student represents Russia at UN summit

A School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate student was one of only 193 young leaders around the world chosen to represent member states at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York late September.

Alina Rafikova – a Fulbright scholar pursuing a master’s degree in mass communication with a specialization in global strategic communications – represented Russia, where she lived since she was 12 years old after moving from Uzbekistan with her family.

Rafikova participated in the negotiation process of the UN’s new sustainable development goals.

To read the whole story, click here.

Cyber conference highlights criminal activity under our noses

In a bone-chilling demonstration, FIU alumnus and Secret Service Agent Robert Villanueva recently directed an operative to commit cybertheft from the comfort of the MARC Pavilion.

Attendees of FIU’s “Trends in Cybersecurity” conference followed along in rapt attention as he purchased active credit card numbers and, in one case, an American citizen’s social security number, each for a few dollars.

Presented by the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering within the College of Engineering & Computing, the conference focused on credit card fraud, which nationally totals 8.6 billion per year.

To read the whole story, click here.