Michael Thompson, problem solver at MITRE, will give the Dan Flowers Distinguished Lecture from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at Bell Engineering Center Room 2282. His speech is titled "Securing the Maritime Transportation Systems Industry: The Not so Hidden Problem of Operational Technology Cybersecurity."

Thompson has more than 25 years of industry experience in the world of engineering, operational technology, and cybersecurity. Thompson spent much of his career as a process control and functional safety engineer designing the systems that drive manufacturing and designing the safeguards that keep these processes safe. He has been a director at Koch Industries, a chief technology officer for one of the world's largest Siemens Distributors, and now works for MITRE in the National Cybersecurity FFRDC helping to make the world a safer place. Thompson has a master's degree in systems engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Recently, he has worked on the Maritime Transportation System Liquified Natural Gas Cybersecurity Framework Industry Profile and the latest revision to NIST 800-82 Guide to Industrial Control Systems Security.

The Dan Flowers Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by Mack-Blackwell Transportation Center and the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center, both research centers at the university.

Lecture is open to the public. For more information about the lecture, please contact Amy Shell at 479-575-6021 or shell@uark.edu.