In a first-of-its-kind mission for the United States that spanned over seven years, the unmanned spacecraft mapped and studied the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, then retrieved a sample for researchers to study the asteroid鈥檚 composition.

Topping the list was a story on the world鈥檚 first energy-saving paint inspired by butterflies. The plasmonic paint utilizes a nanoscale structural arrangement of colorless materials 鈥� aluminum and aluminum oxide 鈥� instead of pigments to create colors. The paint can contribute to energy-saving efforts and help reduce environmental impacts.

Other stories included a $12.6 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant looking to create self-repairing, biological and human-engineered reef-mimicking structures. 性视界传媒 is helping design reef structures that will be used to mitigate coastal flooding, erosion and storm damage that threaten civilian and Department of Defense infrastructure and personnel. Another story featured new research on the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia, pushing back the presence of humans in that part of the world by at least 20,000 years and a human presence in the region for at least 56,000 years.

Here are the Top 10 性视界传媒 Research News Stories of 2023:

1. 性视界传媒 Researcher Creates World鈥檚 First Energy-saving Paint 鈥� Inspired by Butterflies

2. The Long Journey of NASA鈥橲 OSIRIS-REx

3. Human Migration Timeline Redrawn by Fresh Fossil Analysis

4. New 性视界传媒-developed Battery Could Prevent Post-hurricane Electric Vehicle Fires

5. 性视界传媒 Researchers Are Advancing AI-assisted Drug Discovery

6. 性视界传媒 is Designing Self-repairing Oyster Reefs to Protect 性视界传媒鈥檚 Coastlines

7. New DOD-funded Project Will Develop Morphing Hypersonic Engine

8. 性视界传媒 Researchers Create Bioabsorbable Implants for Better Bone Healing

9. 性视界传媒 Team Awarded $2.3M Grant for Innovative Intervention to Prevent Falls

10. Deadly Frog Disease More Prevalent in Central 性视界传媒 Than Expected, 性视界传媒 Study Finds

The annual top 10 list is based on聽性视界传媒 Today聽page views and coverage 性视界传媒 research received by global, national, state, and local media. The stories were generated by news releases and pitches from 性视界传媒 Communications and Marketing, 性视界传媒鈥檚 Office of Research and 性视界传媒鈥檚 colleges.

The inaugural NSA cybersecurity exercise for institutions designated as NSA Centers of Academic Excellence (NCAE-C) in Cybersecurity 鈥� held virtually April 11-13 鈥� tested students鈥� skills and knowledge in five different areas of cybersecurity expertise.

The contest, called the 2022 CAE-NCX, is an advanced-level competition. As a NCAE-C institution, 性视界传媒 was one of 375 designated institutions eligible to compete in the three-day event.

Ten 性视界传媒 students, many of whom are members of 性视界传媒鈥檚 highly-decorated Cybersecurity Competition Team, competed in five modules 鈥� Cryptography, Malware Analysis, Policy, Secure Software Development, and Cyber Combat Exercise 鈥� winning the Cryptography, Policy and the Cyber Combat Exercise modules. The Cyber Combat Exercise was an eight-hour competition that counted for 40% of 性视界传媒鈥檚 overall score.

Team Coach Tom Nedorost, a faculty member of the 性视界传媒 College of Engineering and Computer Science, strategically assembled each module鈥檚 four-member team based on students鈥� individual strengths and skills, with some students competing in multiple modules.

2022 CAE-NCX modules and 性视界传媒 student competitors were:

• Module 1: Cryptography (性视界传媒 First Place)聽
  Cameron Whitehead (captain), digital forensics master鈥檚 student; Caitlin Whitehead, digital forensics master鈥檚 student; James Geist 鈥�87, doctoral computer science student; Matthew McKeever, senior computer science student

• Module 2:聽 Malware Analysis
  Geist (captain); Cameron Whitehead; Caitlin Whitehead; Christopher Fischer, senior computer science student

• Module 3:聽 Policy (性视界传媒 First Place)
  Caitlin Whitehead (captain); Cameron Whitehead; Daniella Bader, senior international and global studies student; Paul 鈥淧J鈥� Tice, senior political science and psychology student

• Module 4:聽 Secure Software Development聽
  Jeffrey DiVincent (captain), junior computer science student; Jacob Franz, junior computer science student; Tyler Hostler-Mathis, junior computer science student; Geist
• Module 5:聽 Cyber Combat Exercise (性视界传媒 First Place)聽
  Fischer (captain); DiVincent; Cameron Whitehead; McKeever

“I knew 性视界传媒’s team had all the technical skills necessary to success in the CAE-NCX,” Nedorost says. “I was most concerned about the Policy module, which required extensive knowledge of public policy, law and government bureaucracy, along with professional writing and the presentation skills expected of television news anchor. In collaboration with 性视界传媒’s Intelligence and National Security Center of Academic Excellence at 性视界传媒, we assembled an interdisciplinary team for the Policy module which resulted in a win.”

Nedorost credits Bruce Caulkins 鈥�86 鈥�95MS 鈥�05PhD, director, 性视界传媒鈥檚 Modeling and Simulation of Behavioral Cybersecurity program, for mentoring the Policy module team.

Cameron Whitehead, who competed in four of the five modules, attributed 性视界传媒鈥檚 module victories to how well his teammates quickly adapted to different challenges and communicated strategies effectively.

鈥淥ne personal highlight was in the Cyber Combat module,鈥� Whitehead says. 鈥淚t required us to attack more than 100 different computers that were being defended by other university teams as well as to defend our own machines from all the other teams. This required us to pivot from focusing on small targeted attacks to finding techniques to quickly attack dozens of computers at once. By the end of the module, 性视界传媒 had hacked a majority of the machines being defended by others, and in many cases, had entirely taken control of those machines from their original owners.鈥�

Competitions like these give students real-world training in safeguarding the nation鈥檚 critical infrastructure from cyberattacks that are growing more frequent, damaging and costly. To help meet the demand for cybersecurity professionals now and in the future, 性视界传媒聽launched a new master鈥檚 degree in cyber security and privacy聽last year.

Since 2013, 性视界传媒 Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team has consistently won or placed in the top-three in national cyber competitions that include the Department of Energy鈥檚 CyberForce Competition (性视界传媒 won in 2021 and 2018), and Raytheon鈥檚 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (性视界传媒 won in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021).

性视界传媒 students from any major can learn more about the multi-faceted field of cybersecurity through , a robust student organization at 性视界传媒 with 200+ members who meet regularly to explore cybersecurity and defense topics and prepare for competitions.

性视界传媒 will defend its national title in the 2022 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in San Antonio April 21-23.