Joseph McIlvenny

Joseph McIlvenny is a Senior Research Scientist in the Office of the Chief Engineer of CERT at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). His technical experience and expertise comes from a background of skills in physics; electromagnetics; RF engineering; system engineering; sensor system design, test, and experimentation; and software development.

Joe’s research focus at the SEI is the convergence of wireless RF systems with the disciplines of cybersecurity and software engineering. This work includes the development of approaches for identifying and mitigating software vulnerabilities across all layers of the wireless OSI stack to improve the security posture and ensure robustness and covertness of wireless systems. Joe also has interest in improving the efficiency and accuracy of RF propagation models for tactical modeling and simulation applications. He works with engineers and researchers across the SEI to investigate and improve the cybersecurity of wireless networks including mesh, tactical, sensor, and communications networks.

Prior to working at the SEI, he was a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) where he had many years of experience conducting test and evaluation of sensor systems, including RF sensors, magnetic field sensors, and quantum sensors. At JHU/APL, he also served as the Chief Scientist and Section Supervisor of the Tactical Communications Systems Group and the Research Area Lead for Strategic Communication Systems. Joe started his technical career as a software engineer developing and testing physics-based weather models at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

Joe earned a Masters of Science Degree in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computational Physics from Slippery Rock University.