Keerthi Koneru is a UC Santa Cruz class of 2024 computer science Ph.D. graduate. Drawn to UCSC’s Computer Science and Engineering Department for its focus on combining conceptual learning with practical application, her research focused on securing electrical substations against cyber threats by analyzing real-world vulnerabilities and developing tools to study malware interactions. She was also part of a team of UCSC researchers who received two awards at the 2023 Cyber Recon Symposium for their innovative cybersecurity research project.