Shropshire Named Endowed Chair of Computing

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Posted on October 19, 2023

Marcomm

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The University of South Alabama School of Computing has named Dr. Jordan Shropshire the inaugural Lawrence Minto Sylvestre Endowed Chair of Computing, effective October 1, 2023.  

Dr. Shropshire joined the School of Computing faculty in 2014. His research areas include Information Security, Data Center Management, Systems Architecture, Cloud Computing, and Emerging Ecosystems. He combines artificial intelligence with data fusion to ensure the security of cyber-physical systems, data centers and cloud computing systems. Dr. Shropshire is a sought-after partner by Fortune 500 companies, including Leidos, Cisco, Raytheon, Dynetics, and Red Hat, as well as defense contractors across the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. 

“In a hyperconnected world where technology dominates our daily lives, the threat of cyber-attacks is more significant than ever. Our most critical infrastructure, including banking, healthcare, communications, utilities and national defense systems, is a prime target for cybercriminals,” said Shropshire. “Defending these critical systems and increasing their resilience requires innovative solutions to ever emerging challenges in cybersecurity.” 

In his career, Shropshire has received over $2 million in external research funds from defense clients, businesses, and public sector organizations including from the National Science Foundation. He received South’s School of Computing Award for Outstanding Research in 2018 and Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020. 

“Dr. Shropshire is an outstanding researcher and scholar with more than 20 published journal articles and 50 referred papers published in conference proceedings. He’s also a gifted teacher who devotes time and resources to his students and his selection as the endowed chair is a testament to his commitment to South.” said Dr. Todd Andel, dean of the School of Computing.  

The Lawrence Minto Sylvestre Endowed Chair of Computing, given in memory of Lawrence Minto Sylvestre by his sister, the late Dr. Jeanne Sylvestre, is the first-ever endowed chair at the School of Computing. Lawrence Minto Sylvestre served as a systems engineer and executive at IBM for 26 years. As an expert in his field, he worked closely with the School of Computing. Lawrence’s sister, Dr. Jeanne Sylvestre, earned her bachelor’s degree and MBA in accounting from South and was a professor at the Mitchell College of Business for more than 30 years. She was the first South graduate to return to the University to teach.  

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