Michael Benedetto
Details
Computer and Information Systems Security/Information Assurance (Cybersecurity)
Thomas Edison State University
2019 : 2024
Physical and Biological Anthropology
Montclair State University
1991 : 1994
University of Hartford
1990 :
2019 : Present
American Museum of Natural History
Chief Information Security Officer
As Director of Information Technology and Deputy CIO, I directly manage the Museum's network, systems infrastructure, data centers, and scientific computing teams as well as provide strategic and operational guidance on other technological services as required. In addition to my duties as Director of Information Technology and Deputy CIO, I also maintain my role as CISO for the Museum.
2011 :
American Museum of Natural History
Director of Information Technology & Deputy CIO
This project provides the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) a major expansion of data management and large-scale centralized storage supporting a broad range of research projects and provides supporting services to facilitate the acquisition, processing, and sharing of data. This significant expansion of storage and additional services allows AMNH to address storage and data management needs institutionally and addresses long-standing problems acutely felt across the Museum’s research divisions and graduate school.
In this project, AMNH expands its data storage capabilities using Open Storage Network (OSN) storage pods, providing over 2 petabytes (PB) of centralized storage for active research data. The OSN pods are connected to the Museum’s Science DMZ, a high-performance network designed for research data flows, which provides connections to onsite high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, data transfer nodes (DTNs) in labs, and analytical systems, as well as to other institutions and resources in the cloud via a connection to the Internet2. The storage provided by the OSN pods is directly accessible by both local and cloud-based resources such as compute nodes at various cloud services and supercomputing centers nationally. AMNH leverages the Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) for data management, indexing, automated ingest, storage tiering, compliance, data integrity, and publishing services. The Clowder Framework provides a scalable data management framework supporting any data format across multiple research domains. Finally, AMNH makes available 20% of its allocated OSN storage to the shared OSN cloud, making it accessible to researchers nationally.
2022 :
American Museum of Natural History
Co-Principal Investigator- NSF Award #2232857
Through the National Science Foundation CC* program, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) expanded its High-Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities that directly support the Museum's research. AMNH conducts scientific research and educational activities across astrophysics, anthropology, biology, and geosciences. The increasingly data-intensive nature of this research requires greater access to computational resources and to ever more sophisticated tools, including local and remote HPC clusters.
In this project, AMNH expanded its on-premise computing cluster capacity and consolidating all existing clusters into a unified open-source software framework. These clusters are connected to the Museum's Science DMZ, a high-performance network specifically designed for research data flows, which provides high-speed network access between the Internet2 and the AMNH on-premise clusters. Additionally, AMNH researchers can execute complex workloads at scale using cloud resources at Amazon via the same local HPC management framework. Federation with InCommon provides both AMNH researchers and outside collaborators with secure access to these resources via a common authentication and authorization framework. Finally, the AMNH clusters are integrated with the Open Science Grid allowing AMNH to offer idle computing cycles to the wider research community while providing AMNH researchers with the same access to remote computing resources. These improvements greatly expand the overall HPC capacity available to AMNH scientists, increasing the speed and effectiveness of their research and decreasing time to discovery.
2019 : 2022
American Museum of Natural History
Co-Principal Investigator- NSF Award #1925590
Through the National Science Foundation?s Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program, this project provides a major data network upgrade for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) that makes scientific data flows a priority. AMNH conducts scientific research and education activities spanning astrophysics, geosciences, and genomics. Scientific collaborations require increasing network capacity among scientific instruments, collaborators and researchers. These data networking improvements to AMNH directly support these research activities. AMNH's ability to move large data sets quickly between its campus and other sites across the nation and throughout the world is critical to the success of the Museum's research program.
In the project, we implemented a high-speed Science DMZ, a network specifically tuned for large data transfers. Through the Science DMZ, AMNH connects to the NYSERNet , which provides pathways to the higher education community in New York State, Internet2, and beyond. Using purpose-built Data Transfer Nodes (DTNs) based on the FIONA concept, AMNH scientists can move diverse, large-scale data sets between research facilities, supercomputing centers, and collaborators via a dedicated 10Gb/s connection. The efficiencies gained enable greater collaboration, more intelligent and timely coordination of research, and increased research throughput and quality. To further facilitate collaboration, the project leverages the GLOBUS file transfer system to easily orchestrate data transfers and for disseminating AMNH's research to the broader research community. Additionally, AMNH integrates with the InCommon Federation, utilizing a common framework to provide researchers secure access to online resources. Using perfSONAR, the Science DMZ is continually monitored to ensure that throughput, latency, and performance targets are met, and data can flow unimpeded.
The Science DMZ serves as the foundation for other scientific computing initiatives at AMNH.
2018 : 2021
American Museum of Natural History
Co-Principal Investigator- NSF Award #1827153
Skills
Compliance Management, Cybersecurity, Data Center, Disaster Recovery, Enterprise Mobility, Enterprise Risk Management, Ethical Hacking, Firewalls, Help Desk Management, Incident Management, Information Architecture, Information Management, Information Security, Information Security Management, Information Technology, Integration, Internet, Intrusion Detection, IT Audit, IT Governance, IT Infrastructure Management, IT Management, IT Operations, IT Strategy, LAN Switching, Leadership, Museums, Network Administration, Network Architecture, Network Design, Network Engineering, Network Infrastructure, Networking, Network Operations, Network Security, PCI DSS, Project Management, Project Planning, Routing, Security, Strategy, System Administration, System Deployment, Team Leadership, Team Management, Technical Support, WiFi, Wireless Networking, Wireless Security, Enterprise Risk, Servers, Cisco Technologies, Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, Mobility Solutions
About
CYBERSECURITY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LEADER (CISO/CIO) with a passion for developing technological and cybersecurity solutions tailored to the unique needs of cultural, educational, and scientific research institutions. I have extensive experience in project planning, information security management, infrastructure design, incident response, risk management, cloud computing, technology strategy, scientific computing, and IT operations. Strong record of success in developing systems and technology programs in furtherance of institutional goals and vision. Proven ability in leveraging IT assets to solve complex business issues while maintaining costs and mitigating risks.
Related areas of expertise include:
• IT and data security infrastructure design, implementation, and management.
• Integrating audiovisual, exhibitions, and educational systems to provide unique and engaging experiences.
• Regulatory compliance initiatives, including PCI, HIPAA, FERPA, and privacy regulations.
• Grant writing and management.
• Scientific and research computing and networking (HPC/HTC/DHTC)
• Customer support operations serving a diverse clientele with unique needs.
• Staff management, development, and team building.
• Project management.
• Budget development and oversight.
• Strategic analysis and internal consulting.
• Vendor and partner management.
Profile Photo
