Director, Information Networking Institute
Barbara Lazarus Professor in Information Networking
Founding Director, Education, Training and Outreach, CyLab
Dena Haritos Tsamitis has led the College of Engineering's Information Networking Institute (INI) as director since 2004. Her efforts have prepared the next generation of information networking, security and mobility professionals at Carnegie Mellon University. She joined the university in 2000, serving first as the INI's associate director in 2002, before assuming the role of director in 2004.
Under her direction, the INI has spanned globally to offer programs in Greece, Portugal, and Japan and has led the innovative design of bicoastal programs offered at the Silicon Valley campus. As the INI's associate director from 2002-2004,Haritos Tsamitis established a master's program in Athens that was the first Carnegie Mellon degree to be earned at a global location. Her research on transnational university partnership programs has influenced the framework and delivery of numerous degree programs offered through innovative delivery models.
A student advocate and mentor of women in technology, Haritos Tsamitis is passionate about increasing diversity in STEM fields. In 2005, she co-founded the student organization, Women@INI (WINI), to address the unique challenges faced by women in the male-dominated field of engineering. To extend WINI's influence beyond the INI, she established a partnership with the Executive Women's Forum (EWF) on Information Security, Risk Management, and Privacy. In addition to providing scholarship funds, the partnership offers invaluable networking and mentorship opportunities to develop women leaders in information security and privacy. Haritos Tsamitis' efforts have impacted INI students and alumni alike; in 2008, she established a Graduate Organization@INI (GOINI) and in 2010, the INI Alumni Leadership Council.
Haritos Tsamitis led efforts in Carnegie Mellon attaining three distinct federal designations as a National Center of Academic Excellence for its merits in information assurance and cyber defense (CAE-IA/CD), research (CAE-R) and cyber operations (CAE-Cyber Ops). Through these efforts, Haritos Tsamitis is the principal investigator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) and the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program (IASP), and has been awarded approximately $28M in federal scholarships under these programs for students who serve our nation. She was also the principal investigator on the NSF Information Assurance Capacity Building Program (IACBP). The IACBP was an intensive summer program to help build information assurance education and research capacity at minority-serving colleges and universities. Seventy-two faculty from 35 HBCUs and HSIs benefitted from this program.
Currently, Dena is a member of the American College of Greece Board of Trustees. She also serves on the board of advisors for the RSA Conference, EWF, RedMarlin, Inc., Prime Tech Partners and the Norfolk State University Information Assurance Research, Education and Development Institute.
2009 EDD, Higher Education Management, University of Pennsylvania
2000 MS, Education (Concentration: Teaching with Distance Learning), Duquesne University
1995 BS, Information Science, University of Pittsburgh
Smart Business
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis has been named one of the Smart Business Pittsburgh Smart 50. This award is given to innovative and inspiring leaders from the 50 smartest companies in the greater Pittsburgh area.
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis was invited by the Greek minister of education and religious affairs, Niki Kerameus, to participate in the International Academic Partnership Program - Greece (IAPP - Greece). Haritos Tsamitis joins a special delegation from 30 U.S. universities to explore areas of collaboration with 24 Greek public universities.
RSA Conference
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis was a panelist for the Webcast: Hot Topics in Cybersecurity as part of the 2022 RSA Advisory Board Roundtable Discussions.
The Millenium Alliance
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis will be participating in a fireside chat with Twitter CISO Rinki Sethi. Their presentation is the opening keynote for The Millenium Alliance’s Transformational CISO conference. Transformational CISO is a two-day think tank on cybersecurity transformation.
ERT A.E
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis recently delivered the keynote talk at the POWER Female Tech Entrepreneurs Forum: Preparing for Greece’s Cloud-Based Future, hosted by the U.S. Department of State in Athens, Greece, where she addressed female startup founders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists on the topic of harnessing the value of a diverse and inclusive culture in tech.
The New York Times
CyLab Director Lorrie Cranor and INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis were quoted in The New York Times on privacy while working from home.
Information Networking Institute
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis led a workshop on overcoming imposter syndrome at the ACM Richard Tapia Conference in San Diego on September 20. The INI was a bronze sponsor of Tapia 2019.
CyLab Security and Privacy Institute
Women make up about one-fifth of the national cybersecurity workforce. That statistic, coupled with Carnegie Mellon's accelerating number of women working in the field, may help explain why the annual Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) conference was hosted by Carnegie Mellon University last month.
CMU
More than 1,200 women, including many College of Engineering faculty and alumnae, gathered from March 28-30 for the Carnegie Mellon’s Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Conference.
INI
Phishing is on the rise, and INI alum Abhishek Dubey is doing his part to combat it. He co-founded RedMarlin, Inc., a cybersecurity company that uses AI and deep learning to provide proactive and affordable solutions for both big and small clients.
WESA
INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis spoke with WESA about the 2019 Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) conference, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. The WiCyS conference aims to provide a supportive community to women pursuing careers in cybersecurity.
CMU
In 2005, INI’s Dena Haritos Tsamitis founded Women@INI to create an environment that would empower women in computing and engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Several INI alumnae credit the program with inspiring them to create or lead similar groups in their workplaces, including Saralee Kunlong of YP and Divya Ashok of Salesforce. At the Women in Cybersecurity conference in March, these two alumnae joined Haritos Tsamitis at a panel focused on the future of women in tech groups.
