VMI Hosts 8th Annual Commonwealth Cyber Fusion Event

VMI hosted the eighth annual Commonwealth Cyber Fusion and Virginia Cyber Cup Competition, a statewide collegiate cyber security competition, Feb. 21–22, 2025. The invitation-only event is for colleges that are National Security Agency-/ Department of Homeland Security-designated National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. It was organized by the Center for Leadership and Ethics as part of its strategic engagement initiatives and co-hosted by the Virginia Cyber Range and the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

VMI founded this cybersecurity event in 2017 at the suggestion of Bryce Bucklin ’17, a computer science major, when the Commonwealth of Virginia sought to create a statewide cybersecurity competition. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner served as honorary chairman.

Participating were about 130 students with 30 of their faculty advisers representing 18 colleges in Virginia: Danville Community College, ECPI, George Mason University, George Washington University, Germanna Community College, James Madison University, Laurel Ridge Community College, Liberty University, Marymount University, Northern Virginia Community College, Radford University, Tidewater Community College, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech, Virginia Western Community College, and VMI. Each college was allowed to bring six competing students along with two observer students.

VMI cadet competitors were Cadets Linh Ngo ’25, Michael Poe ’25, Raj Singh ’25, Amber Strapponi ’26, Trenton Watkins ’26, and John Stotler ’27. Their faculty advisor was Amish Parikh, Department of Computer and Information Sciences instructor and Cyber Defense Laboratory IT specialist/systems engineer. Parikh stated that the VMI team’s technical cyber capabilities, team development, and cyber leadership skills have grown since he began coaching them 3 years ago. “The VMI CIS department teaches the cadets well to provide the much-needed expertise to fill the highly competitive cyber workforce positions that are currently available for all industries,” he said.

For Singh, a computer science major from Honolulu, Hawaii, this was the second year in a row he competed at the event, and he agrees with Parikh in seeing growth within the team. “It was great to see my peers improve on their skills and new members taking up the mantle for future competitions,” he shared.

Activities included a keynote speech by Don Mills, principal cloud architect for Cisco; a job fair; a TechDuels team debate; and a faculty/industry round table discussion hosted by representatives from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

James Madison University was the high scorer in the capture-the-flag-style competition in the 4-year college division and winner of the Virginia Cyber Cup. George Mason University finished second, and the University of Virginia came in third. For the community college division, Danville Community College was the winner, followed by Northern Virginia Community College in second, and Germanna Community College in third.

Lt. Col. Kim Connolly, assistant director of programs and conferences for the CLE, was proud to be part of the coordination of the event. “Our team does a great job organizing this and providing the Commonwealth of Virginia with this first-class cyber workforce development opportunity,” she said.