The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $105 million to a Purdue-led team to spearhead a center that will serve as headquarters for the operations of the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, or NEES. The grant spans five years and is the largest in the university’s history. Julio Ramirez, Professor of Civil Engineering, will serve as the Director of the center and Rudi Eigenmann, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering will serve as the leader of the Information Technology (IT) thrust. Professor Saurabh Bagchi, Associate Professor of ECE and an active CERIAS faculty member, will be responsible for the cybersecurity of NEES hardware and software assets at the headquarters and at the 14 NEES sites around the country. The project will recruit a cybersecurity professional to work with Professor Bagchi.