A team of UALR students has qualified as regional finalists in the 2015 Southwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition to be held in March in Texas.

The team, coached by Assistant Professor of Computer Science Mengjun Xie, is the only one from Arkansas to advance in the competition, which will be held March 7 and 8 at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

The UALR team includes Team Captain Dylan Hailey, Nathan Ellis, Tommy Haycraft, Andrew Lewis, Jeffery Wooldridge, Connor Young, and graduate students Yanyan Li and Vineet Agrawal.

They joined a total of 18 teams from universities across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico that participated in the qualifying round of competition on Feb. 14.

“They all are very bright, hardworking, and dedicated. This recent accomplishment surely is one of their best Valentine’s Day gifts,” said Xie.

Formed in 2012, the team has participated since 2013 in the Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

The tiered competition at both regional and national levels exercises the teams’ technical and business skills as it helps focus on the operational aspects of managing and protecting a small enterprise network.

In 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition for promoting the cyber security curriculum.

A Collegiate Cyber Defense Club team is composed of up to eight students, of which no more than two may be graduate students. The UALR team is backed by the UALR Cyber Security Club. All the team members are also members of the Cyber Security Club.

Xie and the team members expressed gratitude for the help and support of the UALR Department of Computer Science and the College of Engineering and Information Technology.