Alan Sherman, Acting Director 
Dr. Alan Sherman is Director of UMBC’s Cyber Defense Lab and a professor of computer science in the CSEE Department. He has carried out research in high-integrity election systems (including Scantegrity), algorithm design, cryptanalysis, theoretical foundations for cryptography, applications of cryptography, and cybersecurity education. Under NSF support, he is currently developing educational Cybersecurity Assessment Tools (CATS), including two concept inventories for cybersecurity. Under DoD support, he runs a Protocol Analysis Lab (PAL) for formal methods analysis of cryptographic protocols.
Since joining UMBC in fall 1989, he has mentored graduate students and taught courses in cryptology, algorithms, discrete math, and cybersecurity research (INSuRE). He directs UMBC’s SFS and CySP scholarship programs. In 2001, he created the UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance (CISA), which was responsible for UMBC’s designations as a National Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Education and Research (CAE, CAE-R) and remains the point of contact for these designations.
Sherman earned his PhD degree in computer science at MIT studying under Ronald L. Rivest, his SM degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and his ScB degree in mathematics, magna cum laude, from Brown University. Sherman is also a private consultant performing security analyses and serving as an expert witness. He is an editor for Cryptologia and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.
Contact
Office: Information Technology/Engineering (ITE) Room 224
Phone: [please send email]
Email
Faculty Website
Richard Forno, Associate Director 
Dr. Richard Forno is a teaching professor in the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, where he directs the UMBC Graduate Cybersecurity Program and serves as the Associate Director of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute. Prior to academia, his twenty year career spanned the government, military, and private sector, including helping to build the first formal cybersecurity program for the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the first Chief Security Officer for Network Solutions (then, the center of the internet DNS system), and consulting to Fortune 500 companies and the national security community. Dr. Forno also was one of the early public thinkers on the subject of information-age conflict and he remains a longtime commentator on the influence of internet technology upon society.
In addition to teaching cybersecurity at UMBC, Dr. Forno has lectured on cybersecurity, cyber warfare, and infrastructure protection at American University and the National Defense University in Washington D.C. He is an affiliate scholar of the Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society (CIS) and from 2005-12 was a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, serving as an instructor for the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC). In 2023 he was named Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo in Pachuca, Mexico, and in 2025 joined the board of the International Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE). Dr. Forno is also an Affiliate Professor in UMBC’s Department of Information Systems.
His interdisciplinary research and professional interests include information age conflict, cybersecurity, risk communication, technology policy, the influence of artificial intelligence in warfare, and the social shaping of technology — specifically, issues related to resiliency. autonomy, and influence in networked societies. In addition to many articles, papers, and commentaries over the years, he is the co-author of Incident Response (O’Reilly 2001) and Cybersecurity and Local Government (Wiley, 2022) and is a regular contributor to The Conversation. Forno holds a Ph.D. in Internet Studies from Curtin University of Technology in Australia and is a graduate of Salve Regina University, the Naval War College, American University, and Valley Forge Military College. He has received research support from NSF, DoD, and the US Army.
Contact
Office: Information Technology/Engineering (ITE) Room 325A
Phone: [please send email]
E-mail GPG Key
Faculty Website
Laura Mateczun, Assistant Director
Dr. Laura Mateczun currently serves as UMBC’s DOIT Associate Director of Digital Trust where she oversees legal, regulatory, and privacy matters facing the campus information infrastructure. As UCI Assistant Director, she focuses on partnership development and networking opportunities for UCI faculty, staff, and students. Dr. Mateczun is an Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor in the CSEE department, where she coordinates the UMBC’s Cybersecurity Clinic, an innovative practical experience that provides our cybersecurity students to assist Maryland’s government agencies with conducting cybersecurity risk assessments and developing remediation recommendations.
Mateczun earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy and M.P.S. in Cybersecurity from UMBC, holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law, and a B.A. in Public Policy and Political Science (magna cum laude) from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Her scholarship and ongoing research centers around the many issues facing the cybesecurity posture of local governments, privacy, and regulatory compliance. In addition to several public policy papers, she is the co-author of Cybersecurity and Local Government (Wiley, 2022). She was admitted to the Maryland State Bar in 2015.
Contact
Office: Engineering 126E
Phone: 410-455-3643
Email
Website
Donna Ruginski, Associate Vice President for Center Development
Donna Ruginski is the Associate Vice President for Center Development in the Division of Research and Creative Achievement (ORCA) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). A senior technology executive with an extensive background in tech entrepreneurship, she leverages deep sector expertise to drive strategic growth of UMBC’s research portfolio across university, industry, and government ecosystems.
Ms. Ruginski holds multiple leadership appointments across research centers and programs, including serving as Associate Director for the Center for Research in Emergent Manufacturing (CREM), participating as a Collaborator for the NSF HDR Institute for Harnessing Data and Model Revolution in the Polar Regions (iHARP) and serving on the leadership team for the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute (UCI). Her active project leadership includes serving as co-PI for the Digital Enterprise Technology for the XM30 Infantry Fighting Vehicle program, co-developer of the UMBC Operational Technology Cyber Range, and co-PI for workforce development grants under the Cybersecurity for Manufacturing Operational Technology (CyMOT) initiative.
Dedicated to fostering regional innovation and economic development, Ms. Ruginski serves on the Board of Trustees for the bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park. She also acts as a mentor for bwtech’s Maryland New Venture program, guiding teams of entrepreneurs and technologists in launching new cybersecurity ventures, and supports early-stage startups as an advisor and mentor for the MACH37™ Cyber Accelerator program.
Prior to her current responsibilities, Ms. Ruginski served as UMBC’s Executive Director for Cybersecurity Initiatives from March 2019 through May 2023, where she managed the strategic market positioning of the university’s cybersecurity portfolio. Her academic leadership is backed by an extensive foundational background in corporate growth and entrepreneurship; she was a founding partner and Chief Executive Officer of SAINT Corporation, a vulnerability management software company, and previously directed business operations as Chief Operating Officer for a specialized cybersecurity consultancy.
Ms. Ruginski’s contributions to the field have earned notable distinctions: named to The Daily Record’s 2023 Cybersecurity Power List, recipient of the 2021 Maryland Cybersecurity Award for Cyber Warrior Woman of the Year, and appointed as an International Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE) Community Fellow.
Ms. Ruginski received her Master of Science in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Towson University.
Contact
Office: Information Technology/Engineering (ITE) Room 218
Phone: 410-455-2851
E-mail