About the WATCH series:

Transforming today's trusted but untrustworthy cyberinfrastructure into one that can meet society's growing demands requires both technical advances and improved understanding of  how people and organizations of many backgrounds perceive, decide to adopt,  and  actually use technology.  WATCH aims to provide thought-provoking talks by innovative thinkers with ideas that illuminate these challenges and provide signposts toward solutions.  The series is jointly organized by NSF's Computer Science and Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Directorates and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI), and sponsored by the CISE Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) Program.

Our speaker for November 15th is Kevin Fu from U Mass Amherst (Flyer is attached).  The title of his talk is "Medical Device Cybersecurity: The First 164 Years"

Abstract:

The U.S. Institute of Medicine commissioned my 2011 report on the role of trustworthy software in the context of the "510(k)" U.S. medical device regulations. This talk will provide a glimpse into the risks, benefits, and regulatory issues for medical device cybersecurity and innovation of trustworthy medical device software.

Today, it would be difficult to find medical device technology that does not critically depend on computer software. The technology enables patients to lead more normal and healthy lives. However, medical devices that rely on software (e.g., drug infusion pumps, linear accelerators) continue to injure or kill patients in preventable ways---despite the lessons learned from the tragic radiation incidents of the Therac-25 era. The lack of trustworthy medical device software leads to shortfalls in properties such as safety, effectiveness, dependability, reliability, usability, security, and privacy.

Come learn a bit about the science, technology, and policy that shapes medical device software.

Bio:

Prof. Kevin Fu investigates research problems in computer system security, ultra-low power computing, and medical device safety. His most recent research explores problems transcending engineering, science, medicine, and public policy that impact the trustworthiness of medical device software. Kevin also manufactures a batteryless, programmable, RFID-scale sensor/actuator platform called the UMass Moo.

Past research contributions include the security analysis of cardiac implants, RFID credit cards, web authentication, and secure file systems. His research appears in venues ranging from peer-reviewed computer science conferences and medical journals to critical articles in the NYT, WSJ, and NPR.

Kevin received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the MIT Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems group where his research pertained to secure storage and web authentication. Kevin joins the University of Michigan as Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in January 2013. He is currently Associate Professor of Computer Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Kevin served as a visiting scientist at the Food & Drug Administration, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Harvard Medical School, and MIT CSAIL. Previous employers include Bellcore, Cisco, HP Labs, Microsoft Research, and Holland Community Hospital. He is a member of the federal NIST Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board. Kevin received a Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER award, and several best paper awards from his computing research community. He was named MIT Technology Review TR35 Innovator of the Year. Kevin also holds a certificate of achievement in artisanal bread making from the French Culinary Institute.

About NSF
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2009, its budget is $9.5 billion, which includes $3.0 billion provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 44,400 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards.MORE