Abstract: Metrics and models facilitate understanding and prediction of the effect of a malfunction or security breach on the operation of a cyber-physical system. For critical systems, which are expected to tolerate such disruptions, survivability analysis provides means for quantifying and predicting the service degradation caused. Survivability can be quantified in terms of the extent and rate of degradation of a domain-specific figure-of-merit, facilitating identification of components most frequently involved in system-level failures, as well as components whose failure has the most severe consequences. Targeted fortification of these components will enable continual, if partial, delivery of critical services.

Biography: Dr. Sahra Sedigh Sarvestani is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Research Investigator with the Intelligent Systems Center at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Her current research centers on development and modeling of dependable networks and systems, with focus on critical infrastructure. She received the B.S. degree from the Sharif University of Technology and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University, all in electrical engineering. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Education Program and held a Purdue Research Foundation Fellowship from 1996 to 2000. She is a member of IEEE-HKN and ACM and a senior member of the IEEE.