Raheem Beyah (born December 23, 1976) is an American computer engineer, researcher, and educator. As of January 15, 2021 he is the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

and Southern Company Chair at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. Prior to becoming the Dean, he was the vice president for Interdisciplinary Research and the Motorola Foundation Professor and the executive director of Georgia Tech's online masters in cyber security (OMS Cyber) program. Beyah is also the co-founder and chair of industrial security company Fortiphyd Logic, Inc.

Early life and education

In his youth Beyah wanted to be an astronaut, but was drawn to the field of

computer engineering Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...

through his love for video games. He matriculated through the Atlanta Public Schools System and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School. Beyah received his B.S. in electrical engineering from

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

in 1998 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

in 1999 and 2003, respectively. His thesis "A Deployable Approach to Better Than Best Effort Quality of Service", was advised by John A. Copeland and Raghupathy Sivakumar.

Career

Beyah began his career working at

Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

(formerly

Andersen Consulting Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

). After being promoted to the level of Consultant, Beyah left and returned to Georgia Tech to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, advised by Copeland. While completing his Ph.D., he worked as a research engineer at Georgia Tech. In 2005 he joined the computer science department at

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

as an assistant professor while maintaining an adjunct professor appointment at Georgia Tech. In 2011, he returned to Georgia Tech full time as an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Beyah's research interests are in the areas of

network security Network security consists of the policies, policies, processes and practices adopted to prevent, detect and monitor unauthorized access, Abuse, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network securi ...

and

monitoring Monitoring may refer to: Science and technology Biology and healthcare * Monitoring (medicine), the observation of a disease, condition or one or several medical parameters over time * Baby monitoring * Biomonitoring, of toxic chemical compounds, ...

cyber-physical system A cyber-physical system (CPS) or intelligent system is a computer system in which a mechanism is controlled or monitored by computer-based algorithms. In cyber-physical systems, physical and software components are deeply intertwined, able to oper ...

s security, network traffic characterization and performance, and critical infrastructure security. His works have been frequently cited. Beyah serves as the Director of the Communications Assurance and Performance (CAP) research group. Through this group he has discovered several flaws in critical infrastructure components. His work has been highlighted in ''Forbes'', ''USA Today'', ''DARKReading'', ''WIRED Magazine'' and ''NETWORKWORLD''. In 2017, Beyah and his students introduced a proof of concept of LogicLocker, the first

ransomware Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid off. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, ...

for

programmable logic controller A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity tha ...

s. Beyah was promoted to Professor, appointed to the Motorola Foundation Endowed Professorship, and appointed as Associate Chair for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation in 2016. He served as interim Steve W. Chaddick School Chair for the 2017-2018 academic year. Upon stepping down, he was appointed as the executive director for

's Online Masters in Cybersecurity (OMS Cyber) program. In 2019, he became Georgia Tech's Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research and was later asked to lead the Institute's data security efforts by Georgia Tech President

Ángel Cabrera Ángel Cabrera (; born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is known affectionately as ''"El Pato"'' in Spanish ''("The Duck")'' for his waddling gait. He is a two-time ...

. In 2021, he became the Dean of the College of Engineering and the Southern Company Chair. In addition to his work in the academy, Beyah has served as a witness for court cases, including a whistleblower case against Davita Health Care Providers on which he served as a software expert for the plaintiff. Davita Health Care Providers settled the lawsuit for $495M. In 2016, Beyah co-founded Fortiphyd Logic, Inc. and he currently chairs the Board of Directors.

Honors and awards

* Sr. Member,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE) (2009) *

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (2009-2014) *

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

(DARPA) Computer Science Study Panel (2010) * Minority in Research Science Trailblazer, National Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) (2010) * Motorola Foundation Professorship, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech (2016) * Distinguished Member,

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...

(ACM) (2016) * Best Paper Award (3rd place) at the NYU Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) Security Research Competition, 2016 * Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Emerging Scholar (2017)

Selected publications

* * *

Patents

*Systems and methods for fingerprinting physical devices and device types based on network traffic *Systems and methods for detection of infected websites *Systems and methods for detecting anomalous software on a programmable logic controller *Device fingerprinting for cyber-physical systems

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyah, Raheem 1976 births Living people Computer engineers Computer security academics Georgia Tech alumni Georgia Tech faculty Georgia State University faculty North Carolina A&T State University alumni