Dakota State University students walking around campus

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Majors & Degrees

DSU team places 7th at Argonne Labs competition

May 10, 2018

The DSU CDC (Cyber Defense Competition) team, placed seventh out of 29 teams at a national competition held April 6 and 7.

The third annual competition was sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and the 29 selected teams competed simultaneously in one of three locations – Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., or Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The students worked with a simulated natural gas computer network they have built, defending it from cyberattacks while maintaining service.

Several of the 2018 team members competed in the 2017 contest, where they took second place out of 15 teams.

Team members include (from left):

  • Jarod Keene, sophomore cyber operations major from Rapid city, S.D.
  • Amani Kegode, sophomore cyber operations major from Maryville, Missouri
  • Michael Shema, sophomore network and security administration major, international student
  • Kyle Kaplan, sophomore network and security administration major from Spokane Valley, Wash.
  • Zayn Snyder, sophomore cyber operations major from Pierre, S.D.
  • Logan Stratton, junior cyber operations major from Luverne, Minn.

Their coach (not pictured) is Andrew Kramer, instructor in the Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences.