Michele McDonald

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative helps launch new start-ups

Katarina Benson — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 16:06:56 +0000

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative helps launch new start-ups Katarina Benson Tue, 11/04/2025 - 11:06

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Accelerator (CCI+A) program is a jam-packed, five-month innovation program that’s fueling cybersecurity entrepreneurship across Virginia. It’s teaching professors and start-ups what it takes to bring technology to market, including how to pitch to a panel of investors and industry leaders.

“Supporting cybersecurity start-ups and bringing ideas out of universities and into the marketplace are an essential part of the CCI’s mission,” said Luiz DaSilva, executive director of CCI. “We’re excited to help these start-ups reach their milestones and create new opportunities and jobs in the commonwealth.”

The program began at �� and has expanded statewide. It’s co-funded by the CCI Northern Virginia Node and the CCI Hub.

Rui Ning of DeepScan presenting their pitch. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

"Since its launch at �� in 2022, CCI+A has accelerated 34 technologies from across Virginia," said Liza Wilson Durant, CCI Northern Virginia Node director, associate dean of strategic initiatives and community engagement at George Mason, and College of Engineering and Computer professor. "Each year we've seen the teams increase their customer engagement and elevate their competitive pitch performance. It's exciting to see several entities undergo acquisition and see the impact of the program on Virginia economic development."

The CCI+A program works on two tracks—the CATAPULT Fund supports teams emerging from Virginia public research universities and the ASCEND Fund focuses on start-up teams collaborating with faculty subject matter experts. The teams receive up to $75,000 to help them commercialize their technology.

CCI funded 10 projects this year. On October 16, teams from both tracks competed to pitch their start-ups to a panel of investors and industry leaders. The winning team from each category received an additional $5,000 in funding.

The CATAPULT winning team is DeepScan, led by Rui Ning, an assistant professor in computer science at Old Dominion University (ODU). The team also includes Maia Lin and Yao Wang from ODU.
The ASCEND winning team is Glacier21, a start-up led by CEO Ren McEachern, a former FBI agent. Team members include Robert Appleton, Mike Borowski, Neil Alexander, along with George Mason professor Foteini Baldimsti.

The CCI+A program is coordinated by Gisele Stolz, senior director of entrepreneurship and innovation at George Mason.

Meet the Winners

DeepScan

While artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a requirement on our smartphones and other devices, security is lagging, said Ning, DeepScan team lead. Hidden triggers can hijack behavior, and many apps ship models that are easy to tamper with. DeepScan promises to protect on-device AI without slowing down performance. First-time winner Ning is a veteran of CCI+A and put what he learned from a past program to good use.

“The program taught me how to communicate technical ideas in a way that connects with broader audiences,” Ning said. “I’ve always been curious about entrepreneurship because it feels like a natural way to translate research into something that can make a difference. It’s another path to extend our impact beyond papers and grants.”

Glacier21

Glacier21 is focusing on combating illicit cryptocurrency activities. The platform integrates data from such sources as social media, data leaks, and the deep/dark web to uncover complex connections between crypto wallets, businesses, and individuals.

Glacier21 presented their platform focused on combating illicit cryptocurrency activities. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

CCI+A helped the team with the execution, McEachern said. “When we were lucky enough to be selected into the CCI+A program, it didn't just open up some resources; it opened up access to people and vast networks that totally changed our strategy and our thinking.”

Foteini Baldimsti, an associate professor of computer science at Mason, worked with Glacier21 to provide technical expertise. “It's very nice to see how your academic work can help a start-up and give technical knowledge,” Baldimsti said. “But I think it's also very interesting as an academic to learn from this project and from the CCI+A program about how you can bring your own ideas and how you can participate in one of the next cohorts and be on the other side as the founder of the company. I think this experience has been very, very valuable.”

In This Story

Liza Wilson Durant

Foteini Baldimtsi

Learn more about Fuse at Mason Square

Topics

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

�� Professor Duminda Wijesekera wins CCI Impact Award

Tama Moni — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 18:54:36 +0000

�� Professor Duminda Wijesekera wins CCI Impact Award Tama Moni Mon, 04/11/2022 - 14:54

In This Story

Duminda Wijesekera

The first winner of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Impact Award is Duminda Wijesekera, computer science professor and acting chair of the Department of Cyber Security Engineering at ��.

“I am delighted and honored to receive the award,” Wijesekera said. “CCI funding has made it possible to work on projects that could change our daily lives. These projects include autonomous vehicle security, 5G, and such 5G applications as connected transportation, smart building, and smart city initiatives. It’s exciting to help students learn about these advances in the excellent research atmosphere created by CCI.”

The CCI Impact Award recognizes an individual, group, or organization that has conducted breakthrough cybersecurity research or innovation or developed creative ways to improve the cybersecurity workforce opportunities for our industry partners or students. The winner was selected by a subcommittee of five members of the CCI Technical Advisory Board.

"The five nominees for this award have made incredible contributions to CCI's mission, including recognized research leadership, student mentoring, and entrepreneurship in cybersecurity,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director. “I am thrilled for their success, and in particular for the recognition of Duminda's impact on securing cyber-physical systems, from manufacturing to smart transportation."

Wijesekera has led or participated in more than 10 CCI research projects with dozens of faculty and numerous industry and government partners, secured or filed multiple patents, and attracted millions of dollars of new investment in Virginia's cybersecurity research enterprise, said Liza Wilson Durant, director of the CCI Northern Virginia (NoVA) regional node and associate provost at ��.

"The CCI NoVa Node community is proud to see Dr. Wijesekera recognized for the profound impact his collaborative leadership and expertise have had on the success and economic impact of CCI,” said Durant. “He has strategically built the CCI NoVa Node's Living Innovation Lab assets to advance the security of Next G across many Internet of Things applications and has been generous with his time to mentor and collaborate.”

"The efforts of Dr. WIjesekera and the several hundred other Virginia faculty who are working to advance cybersecurity research and innovation in Virginia are the secret sauce to CCI's success in elevating Virginia as a global leader in cybersecurity with more than $77 million of economic impact to date," Durant said.

Researchers nominated for the award include:

Adwait Nadkarni, an assistant professor in the department of computer science and director of the Secure Platforms Lab at the College of William & Mary.

Haiying Shen, an associate professor in the department of computer science, the department of systems and Information engineering, and the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Virginia.

Sachin Shetty, the executive director of the Center for Secure and Intelligent Critical Systems at Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, and holds a joint appointment as a professor of computational modeling and simulation engineering at Old Dominion University.

Danfeng (Daphne) Yao is a computer science professor at Virginia Tech, the Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 Faculty Fellow, and a CACI Faculty Fellow.