Center Team

Ms. Hicks is the Director of Operations and Workforce and Professional Development Co-Lead for SENTRY, as well as for the emeritus Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT), and the Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS), a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. She is responsible for developing the strategic plans for the support services (including research, education, and workforce development programs) provided to the centers in collaboration with center leadership. This includes oversight of major aspects of the Center’s management and operation, including the integration and planning for partnership deliverables, activities, and events. Ms. Hicks holds a master’s in information systems, and college student development and counseling, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northeastern University, and a Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School.

Dr. Maya is the Transition Team Co-Lead for SENTRY. Concurrent with his work with SENTRY, Dr. Maya serves as the Associate Director for Transition at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies (CREATE), an emeritus Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence.

He has over 25 years of experience in executive management, strategic planning, and high-technology academic and industrial research and development. This includes practical experience in program and project management, product development and commercialization, and fiscal responsibility, in both industrial/commercial and academic environments. Dr. Maya has specialized in interdisciplinary research for the government, military, and commercial sectors, ranging in scope from information technologies and systems to nuclear power reactor systems to start-up business management and operations. Dr. Maya was an Astronaut Candidate Finalist in 1992 and a Fellow in NASA’s Center for Program/Project Management. He is a member of the Association of Cuban Engineers. He has over 10 inventions in the chemical engineering, electronics, medical and nuclear fields, and over 100 total publications, including over 50 refereed journal and conference publications. He holds a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering sciences from the University of Florida.

Ms. Beirne serves as the Senior Director of Technical Program Development and Strategy for SENTRY and the emeritus Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT), and the Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS), a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. As the co-Lead of the SENTRY Transition Team, Ms. Beirne facilitates the evolution and delivery of tools, technologies, and knowledge products to market through program and portfolio management.

She has over 25 years of experience in information technology, technical project management, grant writing, and budgetary responsibility in academic and non-profit domains. She also serves as the center’s Transition Lead and is the Director of Information Systems for SENTRY, ALERT, and Gordon-CenSSIS. In this role, she leads the Computer Services Team & oversees the technology and computational needs of the research and administrative environment. Ms. Beirne is ITIL and Microsoft certified and serves as an active member of Northeastern University’s Information Technology Providers Group. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont.

Ms. Linson is currently the Industry Partnership and Government Liaison, as well as the Transition Team Consultant for SENTRY. She brings with her over 30 years of experience in science and technology. Prior to joining SENTRY, Ms. Linson served as the Deputy Director of the Office of University Programs for the Science and Technology Directorate and as a Special Program Officer with the Secret Service. Both positions were at the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, she served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for 20 years with subspecialties in intelligence, anti-submarine warfare, and human resources.  Ms. Linson holds a master’s in business administration in financial management from the Naval Post Graduate School, a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas, and she is also a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. 

Rear Admiral Naccara is the Chair of the SENTRY Practitioner Advisory Board and he brings to this role, significant expertise in safety and security design, testing, and deployment from 54 years of experience in former roles within the US Department of Homeland Security. Prior to his retirement in 2019, he served as the Chief Security Officer for the Massachusetts Port Authority where he sought innovative solutions to various security challenges. Before joining MassPort, Admiral Naccara was one of the first Federal Security Directors in the newly established Transportation Security Administration serving from 2002 to 2014. He launched his career in the U.S. Coast Guard, serving for 37 years before retiring as a Rear Admiral. He is a Harvard University fellow with a master’s in business management from Central Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree from the US Coast Guard Academy.  

SENTRY’s Threat Prediction Lead, Dr. Jun Zhuang is Morton C. Frank Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Decision, Risk & Data Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. Dr. Zhuang has been a principal investigator of over 30 research grants funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Fire Protection Association. Dr. Zhuang holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

SENTRY’s Layered Security Architecture Design and Simulation Lead Research Lead, Michelle Laboy is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Northeastern University, with affiliate appointments in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Professor Laboy has twice been awarded the Latrobe Prize, in 2017 and 2022, by the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, to support research that addresses urgent issues for the profession. Her research and teaching bring socio-ecological thinking into architectural design that has agency in the adaptation to changing cultural and ecological landscapes. Her work has been published in The Plan Journal, Enquiry, the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of Industrial Ecology; as well as the recent book titled: The Architecture of Persistence: Designing for Future Use.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, and both a Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan.   

Professor Castañón is the Real-Time Threat Detection and Mitigation Research Lead for SENTRY, as well as the Associate Director of the emeritus Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT); Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Systems Engineering at Boston University; and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) fellow.

Professor Castañón’s research interests include stochastic control, estimation, game theory, optimization, and parallel and distributed computing, with applications to inverse problems, multi-target tracking, object recognition, sensor management, and cooperative operations planning and control. He has served in numerous leadership positions in the IEEE Control Systems Society, including President, and received the Society’s Distinguished Member Award. He also served on the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board. Professor Castañón holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Rappaport is the Deputy Director and Advanced Sensing Technologies Research Lead of SENTRY, as well as the Director of the emeritus Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT); Associate Director of the Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS), a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center; a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University; and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) fellow.

He has authored over 450 technical journal and conference papers in the areas of microwave antenna design, electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering computation, and bioelectromagnetics. He holds two reflector antenna patents, two biomedical device patents, and four subsurface sensing device patents. Professor Rappaport holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Silevitch is the Director of SENTRY, as well as Co-Principal Investigator for the Engineering PLUS National Science Foundation Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Alliance; Director of the Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center; the Robert D. Black Professor of Engineering at Northeastern University; and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) fellow. Professor Silevitch was also the founding Director of the emeritus Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT).

Professor Silevitch’s training encompassed both physics and electrical engineering disciplines. An author/co-author of over 65 journal papers, his research interests include laboratory and space plasma dynamics, nonlinear statistical mechanics, and K-12 science and mathematics curriculum implementation. Professor Silevitch also created the Gordon Engineering Leadership (GEL) Program at Northeastern University, a graduate curriculum offered through the College of Engineering that aims to create an elite cadre of engineering leaders. He and the current GEL Director, Simon Pitts, were awarded the 2015 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Engineering Education by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Professor Silevitch holds a Ph.D., a Master of Science in electrical engineering, and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, all from Northeastern University. He has an MA in Physics from Brandeis University.

Professor Cozzens is the Workforce and Professional Development Co-Lead for SENTRY, as well as Project Director for the Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science, founded as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center; Education and Outreach Director for the emeritus Department of Homeland Security University Center of Excellence, The Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA); and a Distinguished Research Professor at Rutgers University.

Her research interests include discrete mathematical modeling, graph theory, and game theory. Professor Cozzens holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science. degrees in mathematics from Rutgers and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and english from the University of Rochester.