Gabriel Weaver

Weaver is a Research Scientist at the Information Trust Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research considers ways to analyze risk across multiple infrastructure sectors as modern information systems are increasingly used to control and monitor critical infrastructures such as the bulk electric system and maritime transportation system. As the Herman M. Dieckamp Inaugural Fellow, he has focused on better ways to assess the resilience of critical infrastructure systems with a particular focus on the Maritime Transportation System (MTS). Currently, he is funded by the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI), a DHS Center of Excellence, to develop and transition a tool to understand the functional and economic impact of disruptions to shipping ports. Recently, he has adapted and extended this tool to analyze the impact of cyber-originating disruptions on power projection as part of the Jack Voltaic v 3.0 exercises sponsored by the Army Cyber Institute at West Point. This research is made possible by continuous engagement with a variety of stakeholders in government and private industry including Port Everglades, Ports of Auckland, and USTRANSCOM. 

Weaver’s Ph.D from Dartmouth College in systems security, combined with his postdoctoral work in critical infrastructure systems at the University of Illinois, uniquely position him to develop data collection and analysis techniques for risk assessment of IT/OT systems. During his career at UIUC, he has co-advised 5 Ph.D students with Professor William H. Sanders, Department Head of ECE. Two of these students, co-authors with Sanders and Weaver, received best paper awards Weaver at competitive conferences in systems security and resilience: QEST 2015 and DSN 2016. Articles on XUTools, the output of his dissertation, have been featured in news outlets such as ComputerWorld, CIO Magazine, Communications of the ACM, and Slashdot.

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