{"id":2553,"date":"2025-11-24T09:49:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2025-11-24T10:54:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:54:04","slug":"cypher-co-director-prof-yan-lindsay-sun-earns-cdaio-certificate-team-wins-best-of-cohort-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/cypher-co-director-prof-yan-lindsay-sun-earns-cdaio-certificate-team-wins-best-of-cohort-award\/","title":{"rendered":"CYPHER Co-Director Prof. Yan (Lindsay) Sun Earns CDAIO Certificate & Team Wins \u201cBest of Cohort\u201d Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CYPHER\u2019s newly certified AI strategist strengthens connections between academic innovation and industry transformation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Yan (Lindsay) Sun, IEEE Fellow, Professor and Chair of Electrical, Computer & Biomedical Engineering, and Founding Director and now Co-Director of the Center for Cyber-Physical Intelligence and Security (CYPHER), recently achieved a significant professional milestone: completing the Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAIO) Executive Training Program at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Heinz College. Her team was also awarded the prestigious \u201cBest of Cohort\u201d<\/em> honor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

More than a credential, this experience reflects Dr. Sun\u2019s ongoing commitment to connecting academic innovation with industry practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing the only academic professor in the cohort sharpened my focus,\u201d said Dr. Sun. \u201cwhat really mattered was how our team combined industry experience with research thinking to deliver a data and AI strategy and roadmap that creates real organizational value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added:
\u201cI want to thank my teammates and coach \u2014 during this seven-month journey we became really good friends, and that camaraderie will extend long beyond the award.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Sun\u2019s teammates included Ben Ganzfried, who leads Data Platform Strategy at Hungryroot and serves as a board advisor for small and midsize businesses in data and AI strategy; Bryan Arias, Vice President of Analytics and Process at Allegacy Federal Credit Union; and Wilberto Montoya, a Senior Software AI Engineer at Microsoft. The team worked under the guidance of their coach, Karan Dhawal, a Chief Data Analytics and AI leader, adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University. Congratulations to the entire team and to coach Dhawal for this outstanding achievement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the program\u2019s impact, Dr. Sun shared:
\u201cAs a Certified AI Strategist, I now bring a deeper lens to CYPHER\u2019s academic\u2013industry collaborations. This includes supporting the center\u2019s strategic partners on their journeys in data and AI transformation, and mentoring the next generation of innovators who see AI as an enabler, accelerator, or foundation for new ideas that benefit institutions, society, and humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For CYPHER, this achievement represents more than individual recognition. It reinforces the center\u2019s mission to advance the security and resilience of cyber-physical systems, including power grids, manufacturing systems, and shipbuilding, and to promote trustworthy AI across research, curriculum development, and industry partnerships. It also reflects a continued commitment to collaboration, purpose, and real-world impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CYPHER\u2019s newly certified AI strategist strengthens connections between academic innovation and industry transformation Dr. Yan (Lindsay) Sun, IEEE Fellow, Professor and Chair of Electrical, Computer & Biomedical Engineering, and Founding Director and now Co-Director of the Center for Cyber-Physical Intelligence and Security (CYPHER), recently achieved a significant professional milestone: completing the Chief Data and AI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5280,"featured_media":2573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions\/2574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cypher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}