Energy Seminar: The Vulnerability of the U.S. Electricity Grid to Cyber Attacks; A Conversation With Ted Koppel

This seminar will begin with a student panel in conversation with legendary TV news journalist, Ted Koppel, about the potential vulnerability of the U.S. electricity grid to a devastating cyberattack. Such an attack could have dire consequences for the world’s financial system and global economy. Strategies to prevent and effectively respond to these threats will be crucial elements of the dialogue. Mr. Koppel’s 2015 New York Times best-selling book, Lights Out, provides compelling motivation for this important societal discussion. 

Panelists:

Ted Koppel

Peter E. and Mimi Haas Distinguished Visitor

Bianca Draud

Bianca Draud is a first-year master’s student in Atmosphere and Energy in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. She will complete her degree in March of 2019. In her undergraduate studies, she majored in Environmental Systems Engineering with a focus on the urban environment, also in the Stanford CEE department. Bianca is mainly interested in the effect on utility ratepayer costs of integrating solar PV resources into the electric grid. In the past, she has interned on the Customer Generation team in the CPUC’s Energy Division and as in Project Management and Assessment for renewable energy solutions company Alta Energy. During her time with the CEE department, Bianca has been a grader, CA, or TA for several classes, including Understanding Energy. Next quarter (Spring 2018), she will be the Energy Seminar TA.

Rachel Hirshman

Rachel Hirshman is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Political Science and minoring in French. She will be graduating with her bachelor’s degree this June, but plans to continue her studies at Stanford in pursuit of a master’s degree in Management, Science, and Engineering, graduating in June 2019. Rachel is writing a senior honors thesis exploring under what conditions international agreements in cyberspace will be most likely in the Center for International Security and Cooperation Interdisciplinary Honors Program. She has spent time working in the public and private sectors on matters of cybersecurity policy and data privacy.

Raffi Sevlian

Raffi Sevlian is a post-doctoral scholar at Stanford University, working with SLAC National Lab focusing on impacts of electric vehicle adoption on the electric infrastructure.  His background and interests revolve around the intersection of mobility and the grid considerations.

Alex Zaheer

Alex is a Junior studying Computer Science and Political Science. He participated in the Stanford in Washington abroad program this past fall, where he was fortunate enough to with the Defense Digital Service and Army Cyber Command out of the Pentagon. He spent this past summer researching cyberpolicy in Estonia. On campus, he leads student organizations with a mission to introduce technical students to today’s most challenging cyberpolicy problems.

Reccommended Reading:

Koppel’s most recent book, a New York Times best seller, Lights Out (October, 2015)