SRS Contractor Wins National Cyber Award for Innovation

AIKEN, S.C. – Barry McIntosh, a cybersecurity engineer for EM contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), received the Government Innovation Award for Public Sector Innovation last week for his work on a new cyber degree program at the University of South Carolina Aiken (USC Aiken).

The Government Innovation Awards organization described the Nov. 7 awards ceremony as a celebration of transformative government projects, individual change agents, and industry partners reimagining public-sector information technology.

McIntosh helped develop the degree program as part of an SRNS team at the Savannah River Site (SRS) that included Dan Farmer, John Walker, and John Bobbitt.

“The team was able to blend the perspectives of cyber operations, industrial controls cyber operations, software development, and cutting-edge cyber research conducted in the Savannah River National Laboratory,” McIntosh said.

The need for qualified cyber professionals in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) helped make the case for the new undergraduate major for students studying Applied Computer Science. CSRA is a region that includes eight counties in South Carolina and 13 counties in Georgia. 

“At SRS, we have a growing demand for cyber professionals to protect the nation’s assets,” McIntosh said.

Over several months, the SRNS team worked with USC Aiken administrators and faculty, including Daren Timmons, provost and former dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering, to develop a new curriculum for the degree program.

“The synergy and strong motivational drive exhibited by the team members right from the start was inspirational,” Timmons said. “With the escalating number of cyberattacks experienced annually, we knew this new degree program in cybersecurity had to be part of our redesigned Applied Computer Science program here at USC Aiken.”