CMUNCE XXII Symposiums will take place from 2:00-3:30pm on Saturday, January 14th, 2023. Read more about the two panels offered at CMUNCE this year!
The Cybersecurity Panel
The Cybersecurity Panel will focus on the key issues and responses to current cybersecurity risks and the expanding threat landscape nationally and internationally. Our experts, ranging from academic scholars to federal agency officials, will be able to provide a multidimensional approach to this pressing issue in international relations.
Rich Richard - Chief of Cybersecurity at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Rich Richard is a native Long Islander who served in the U.S. Navy from 1983 to 2003. After retiring from the Navy, Richard worked at the Naval Network Warfare Command (NAVNETWARCOM) as a Senior Cyber Security Engineer managing a team of cyber security engineers which was responsible for the certification and accreditation of all Navy systems and networks. Most recently, Richard was the Information Systems Security Manager (ISSM) with Northrop Grumman in Bethpage, NY where he directly supervised all facility Information System Security Officers and was responsible for managing the IT governance and cyber security compliance of 1200+ computers. Desirous to return to government service, Richard transitioned to the Department of Homeland Security and now the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) where he currently serves as the Chief of Cybersecurity for Region 2 (NY, NJ, PR, USVI).
Laura O'Brien - Senior UN Advocacy Officer for Access Now
Laura O'Brien is Access Now’s Senior UN Advocacy Officer, where she advances international law and norms on digital rights at international organizations, particularly the United Nations. Her work focuses on a range of issues, including: internet shutdowns, connectivity, cyber and digital security, privacy and surveillance, shrinking civic space, sustainability, and freedom of peaceful assembly and association in the digital age — where she co-authored Access Now’s first report on the topic. O’Brian also represents Access Now on the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Advisory Network and the FOC’s Task Force on Internet Shutdowns, which Access Now serves as co-chair with the U.S. State Department and the Global Network Initiative.
Colin Ahern - Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs
Colin Ahern is an Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs, specializing in cybersecurity, technology, and cyber resilience. He currently serves as the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer for the City of New York. Before joining the City, he worked in financial services as a security engineer and cyber threat researcher. Ahern started his career as a U.S. Army officer, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving as a company commander at U.S. Army Cyber Command.
Jason Healy - Senior Research Scholar / Adjunct Professor of SIPA
Jason Healey is a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs specializing in cyber conflict, competition and cooperation. Prior to this, he was the founding director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative of the Atlantic Council where he remains a Senior Fellow. During his time in the White House, he was a director for cyber policy and helped advise the President and coordinate US efforts to secure US cyberspace and critical infrastructure. He created the first cyber incident response team for Goldman Sachs and later oversaw the bank’s crisis management and business continuity in Hong Kong. He has been vice chairman of the FS-ISAC (the information sharing and security organization for the finance sector) and started his career as a US Air Force intelligence officer with jobs at the Pentagon and National Security Agency. Healy was a founding member (plankowner) of the first cyber command in the world, the Joint Task Force for Computer Network Defense, in 1998, where he was one of the early pioneers of cyber threat intelligence.
The Nuclear Disarmament Panel
The Nuclear Disarmament panel will focus on the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons and the need to unite the international community against these weapons of mass destruction. Our experts ranging from leading scholars to Nobel Peace Prize laureates will explore the implications of a nuclear catastrophe and the urgency to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Dr. Ivana Hughes - President of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Ivana Nikolić Hughes was named President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 2022. Hughes comes to the Foundation from Columbia University where she is a senior lecturer in discipline in the Department of Chemistry, and where she served as the director of the K=1 Project, Center for Nuclear Studies. Hughes graduated with honors from Caltech in 1999, earning a B.S. in chemical engineering, and completing her senior thesis with Frances Arnold, the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2005, Hughes earned her Ph.D from Stanford University in the laboratory of the National Academy of Sciences, member Daniel Herschlag in the Department of Biochemistry, and was an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellow. Hughes’s scholarly work focuses on the dangers of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, and the environmental impacts of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands and elsewhere. She combines her interest in global issues with her commitment to engaging the younger generation on topics at the intersection of science and society, nuclear disarmament specifically.
Benetick Kabua Maddison - Executive Director Marshallese Educational Initiative
Benetick Kabua Maddison is the Executive Director at Marshallese Educational Initiative (MEI), a nonprofit in Arkansas, where the highest concentration of Marshallese reside in the continental United States. Born in Majuro Atoll, Maddison migrated to the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas with his family at the age of six. His work at MEI includes raising educational attainment levels of Marshallese residents and he regularly speaks about the ongoing consequences of the nuclear legacy and climate change on his homelands at conferences and events in the US and internationally.
Seth Shelden - United Nations Liaison for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
Seth Shelden is the United Nations Liaison for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning coalition working to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. In this capacity, he assists governments in signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and he represents ICAN in promoting universalization of the treaty. After nearly seven years at the international law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, today he is a partner at the law firm of Farkas & Neurman and an Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law
Christian Ciobanu - Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for NAPF and Reverse the Trend
Christian Ciabonu serves as NAPF’s Policy and Advocacy Coordinator where he works to raise public awareness and encourage states to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and monitor international peace and security discussions inside the United Nations. He also develops and fosters vital relationships between NAPF and states, including Kazakhstan, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati. Ciobanu is heavily involved in the discussions on the Positive Obligations of the TPNW, including victim assistance, environmental remediation, international cooperation, and assistance. As a result of his involvement on the positive obligations, he was appointed as an adviser on the TPNW to the Permanent Mission of Kiribati. He also serves as the primary coordinator of Reverse The Trend: Save Our People, Save Our Planet. This NAPF initiative amplifies the voices of youth from communities that have been impacted by nuclear weapons and climate change.