Teaching
Courses taught:
CS 4461/EE 4272 - Computer Networks (Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020)
CS 4471/5471 - Computer Security (Fall 2018)
CS 4740/5740 - Development of Trusted Software (Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2018)
CS 5472 - Advanced Topics in Computer Security (Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2019, Spring 2018)
CS 4090 - Cybersecurity Competitions (independent study course, Spring 2020 - Spring 2022)

Teaching achievements:
Dr. Bo Chen has been identified as one of the 92 instructors (top 10%) in MTU who received an exceptional "Average of 7 Dimensions" student evaluation score during Spring 2019!
Dr. Bo Chen has been identified as one of the 89 instructors (top 10%) in MTU who received an exceptional "Average of 7 dimensions" student evaluation score during Spring 2018!

Integration of research projects into education:
Dr. Chen has been working on integrating his research projects into general education for college students.
Spring 2023: CS5472 (slide1, slide2, slide3, slide4, slide5), CS5740/4740 (slide1, slide2)
Spring 2022: CS5472 (slide1, slide2, slide3, slide4), CS5740/4740 (slide1, slide2)
Spring 2021: CS5472 (slide1, slide2, slide3, slide4), CS5740 (slide1, slide2)
Spring 2020: CS5740 (slide1, slide2, slide3)
Spring 2019: CS5472 (slide1, slide2, slide3, slide4)
Spring 2018: CS5472 (slide1, slide2, slide3, slide4)

Educational programs involvements
Dr. Chen is a core member of MTU Cybersecurity MS Program and one of the founding members of MTU Cybersecurity BS Major. Dr. Chen is a co-PI for CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) Program at Michigan Tech, a nationwide program to recruit and train the next generation of information technology professionals, industrial control system security professionals and security managers. Dr. Chen has been actively educating K-12 students in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan with cybersecurity knowledge in the past years by participating the Gencyber summer camps.
Reading Group
Security and Privacy (SnP) lab has been dedicated to broadcasting cybersecurity knowledge to graduate and undergraduate students. We have been running cybersecurity reading group in Department of Computer Science since Fall 2017. We try to create a casual environment in which students can sit together and freely discuss the most recent results of cybersecurity. Our group members meet biweekly and benefit from a few aspects:
1) Be exposed to the most recent research results in cybersecurity;
2) Improve skills of presentation and paper reading;
3) Improve ability of critical thinking;
4) Have the opportunity to be involved into various state-of-the-art research projects in cybersecurity.
Please contact Bo Chen (bchen@mtu.edu) if you are interested in joining the group.
Past Events:
Spring 2023
Fall 2022
Fall 2021
Spring 2021
Fall 2020
Spring 2020
Spring 2019
Fall 2018
Spring 2018
Fall 2017
Competition
Security and Privacy (SnP) lab has been dedicated to promoting cybersecurity education and training among undergraduate and graduate students. We have been actively involved undergraduate and graduate students in various cybersecurity competitions, including National Cyber League (NCL) cyber competition, various CTFs in Grrcon, DEF CON, etc.
Dr. Chen is the faculty coach of MTU NCL team, and the co-adivisor of MTU RedTeam. Please contact me (bchen@mtu.edu) if you are interested in joining these teams.
Outcomes:
Fall 2023: We had 44 students participating in the NCL cyber competition. Out of 7930 Individual Players we had 2 players ranked in the top 100: Ryan Klemm (5th - our best record in the individual game since we participated in NCL cyber competition in Fall 2017), Noah Holland (40th). In the team game our primary competitive team (RedTeam@MTU), made up of Ryan Klemm, Josh Stiebel, Thad Sander, Audrey LaCost, Gary Tropp, Noah Holland, Andrew Martin, was ranked 11th, out of 454 teams (experienced students bracket) across the US. Our participation of NCL in Fall 2023 was supported by ICC Center for Cybersecurity.
Spring 2023: Our team has great achievements at CypherCon, Wisconsin’s largest technology and hacker conference, March 30-31, 2023, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Spring 2023: Three groups from the MTU RedTeam competed in CyberSEED 2023 (leaderboard). Placing 3rd among hundreds of competitors, RedTeam Team 1 earned 2390 points with 93.41% accuracy. Team members were Ryan Klemm (Computer Science BS), Audrey LaCost (Chem Informatics BS), Joshua Stiebel (Computer Engineering BS), and Noah Holland (Cybersecurity BS). The team was awarded a $2,000 prize.
Fall 2022: Another fruitful season of our NCL cyber competition. In this season, we had 32 people participating in the competition. Out of 6675 Individual Players we had 2 players ranked in the top 100: Ryan Klemm (48th), Josh Stiebel (77th). In the team game our primary competitive team (RedTeam@MTU), made up of Jacson Ott, Ryan Klemm, Devon Midkiff, Josh Stiebel, Thad Sander, Audrey LaCost, Noah Holland, was ranked 6th, out of 3926 teams across the US.
Fall 2022: Our team attended Grrcon, an information security and hacking conference, and placed the first in the OSINT CTF and the Lockpicking Village Challenges. Congratulations, Josh Stiebel, Ryan Klemm, Sophia Kraus, and other members in the team.

Our team in Grrcon


Summer 2022: At the annual DEF CON 30 hacking conference (August 11-14, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada), two RedTeam students Sophia Kraus and Josh Stiebel–along with three others not affiliated with Michigan Tech, competed in the Fathom5 SeaTF capture the flag (CTF) competition. Their team, “Revolutionera,” placed 5th out of 22 teams.
Spring 2022: Our NCL team was ranked 6th out of 576 teams, in the spring 2022 National Cyber League team capture the flag (CTF) competition, April 22-24, 2022.
Spring 2022: RedTedTem members Sophia Kraus (Electrical Engineering) and Josh Stiebel (Computer Engineering) participated in CyberBoat Challenge, won CTF competition.
Spring 2022: Three MTU RedTeam members (Trevor Hornsby, Josh Stiebel, Ryan Klemm, Shane Hoppe) placed 5th out of 119 teams in the CyberSEED capture-the-flag competition on March 26, 2022.
Fall 2021: This semester we had 29 people participating in NCL cyber competition. Out of 6475 Individual Players we had 3 players ranked in the top 100: Josh Stiebel (15th, a new record of our ranking in the NCL individual game since Fall 2017), Ryan Klemm (18th), Stu Kernstock (65th). In the team game our primary competitive team (RedTeam@MTU), made up of Stu Kernstock, Matthew Chau, Sankalp Shastry, Ryan Klemm, Josh Stiebel, Thad Sander and Tayler, was ranked 10th, out of 3916 teams from hundreds of universities across the US.
Fall 2021: The MTU RedTeam captured 1st place in an Open Source INTelligence Capture The Flag contest (OSINT CTF), hosted at the GrrCON Cyber Security Summit and Hacker Conference, September 16-17, 2021, in Grand Rapids, MI.
Spring 2021: This semester we had 23 people participating in NCL cyber competition. Out of 4180 Individual Players we had 4 players in the top 100: Trevor Hornsby (50th), Dakoda Patterson (59th), Stu Kernstock (75th), and Matthew Chau (100th). In the team game our primary competitive team (RedTeam@MTU), made up of Trevor Hornsby, Dakoda Patterson, Stu Kernstock, Matthew Chau, Ryan Klemm, Shane Hoppe, and Joshua Stiebel was able to complete 100% of the challenges putting us in a tie for first place and earning us a 3rd place overall ranking in the team game, out of 922 teams from hundreds of universities in US (a breakthrough!!! Congratulations, RedTeam@MTU! Way to go!). Check out some of the media coverages in Yahoo, WFMZ-TV, etc. The Cyber Power Ranking of MTU is 3 in Spring 2021.
A snapshot of the team after they finished their 3-day competition online:

Members in RedTeam@MTU


Spring 2021: RedTeam successfully hosted the 2021 MTU Winter Wonderhack - Capture The Flag.
Spring 2021: Dakoda Patterson and Trevor Hornsby are part of a five-member team that finished 3rd in the invitation-only Lockheed Martin Advanced Technologies Laboratories (ATL) Capture the Flag cybersecurity competition.
Fall 2020: We have 27 students who successfully complete the NCL cyber competition, among which 7 students rank top 100 out of 6011 participants in the individual games: Jacson Ott (52/6011),Trevor Hornsby (78/6011), Shane Hoppe (80/6011), Dakoda Patterson (90/6011), Matthew Chau (92/6011), Ryan Klemm (93/6011), Stu Kernstock (98/6011). For team games, we have 5 teams involved and 2 teams rank top 100 out of 957 teams. RedTeam@MTU (22/957): Trevor Hornsby, Stu Kernstock, Jacson Ott, Shane Hoppe, Dakoda Patterson, Ryan Klemm. RedTeam@MTU Alumni (67/957): Jack Bergman, Jon Preuth, Trevor Taubitz. The final Cyber Power Ranking of MTU in Fall 2020 was ranked 15 by Cyber Skyline based on the NCL performance!
Spring 2020: We had 3 teams participating in the NCL cyber competition in this season. All the 3 teams were ranked top 100 out of 925 teams. Team 1 (Alexander Larkin, Jack Bergman, Jon Preuth, Trevor Hornsby, Shane Hoppe, Dakoda Patterson, Matthew Chau) was ranked 16; Team 2 (Sophia Kraus, Sam Breuer, Ian Hughes, Austin Doorlag, Sankalp Shastry, Hunter Indermuehle, Samantha Christie) was ranked 45; and Team 3 (John Claassen, Stu Kernstock, Jacson Ott, Bradley Gipson, Ethan Frenza, Tim Lucero, Anders Jacobsen) was ranked 78. Also, Shane Hoppe was ranked 95 out of 5357 participants in the individual game. The final Cyber Power Ranking of MTU in Spring 2020 was ranked 22 by Cyber Skyline based on the NCL performance!
Spring 2020: RedTeam hosted the 2020 MTU Winter Wonderhack - Capture The Flag, and there were 15 teams (totally 35 students) from MTU joining the competition.
Spring 2020: A pilot course for cybersecurity competitions, CS 4090 - Cybersecurity Competitions, was opened for those students who are interested in learning cybersecurity competition skills and getting involved in various CTF competitions.
Fall 2019: Our team (id: RedTeam@MTU) placed 8th out of 689 teams in NCL Fall 2019 cyber competition team game! A breakthrough since our first joining of NCL competition in Fall 2017. Big congratulations, Alexander Larkin, John Claassen, Jack Bergman, Jon Preuth, Trevor Hornsby, Shane Hoppe, Matthew Chau! Great job! We also had two members who were ranked top 100 out of 4149 players in the individual game: John Claassen (67 out of 4149), Alex Larkin (70 out of 4149). Congratulations, John and Alex! The final Cyber Power Ranking of MTU in Fall 2019 was ranked 11 by Cyber Skyline based on the NCL performance.
Spring 2019: Our NCL team (Jack Bergman, Trevor Hornsby, Stu Kernstock, Alex Larkin, Jon Preuth) placed 97 out of 510 teams in Spring 2019 competition season!
Fall 2018: Alex Larkin placed 17th out of 3,324 students/players in NCL Fall 2018 Regular Season! Our NCL team (Alex Larkin, Jon Preuth, Jack Bergman) placed 81 out of 360 teams in Fall 2018 Postseason!
Spring 2018: Alex Larkin placed 36th out of 3,350 students/players in NCL Spring 2018 Regular Season!
Fall 2017: Alex Larkin placed 101 out of 3,449 students/players in NCL Fall 2017 Regular Season!
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