In Memoriam: Barry Horowitz
About
Dr. Barry Horowitz was a prominent member of the SIE department, a distinguished engineer, scholar, and public servant whose innumerable contributions shaped how the world thinks about systems, cybersecurity, and safety.
Dr. Horowitz focused his research on wireless systems and on bringing a systems engineering perspective to cyber security. From 2006 to July 2013, he served as UVA's research site director for the NSF-sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center known as WICAT — the Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology. In 2013, he led the University's effort to establish a successor center, BWAC (Broadband Wireless Access and Applications Center), under the same NSF program. His final and perhaps most urgent research effort was a Department of Defense–sponsored program known as System Aware Cyber Security, which sought to embed security solutions directly into complex systems — work he applied most concretely to cyber defense for airborne surveillance systems aboard unmanned aerial vehicles.
Dr. Horowitz joined the University of Virginia’s faculty as a Professor in the Systems Engineering degree program in September 2001, after an industrial career applying Systems Engineering to many large and complex systems. He assumed the role of Department Chair in 2009.
Before his academic career, Dr. Horowitz spent more than two decades at the MITRE Corporation, from 1969 through 1996, rising through the organization to serve as Executive Vice President and COO before concluding his tenure as President and CEO, a position he held for five years. His early work at MITRE included leading an FAA-sponsored research effort that produced a prototype airborne collision avoidance system; that prototype became the foundation for TCAS, the international standard for commercial aircraft collision avoidance that continues to protect lives worldwide.
During Operation Desert Storm, Dr. Horowitz conceived of and directed the integration of a system for tracking and destroying SCUD missile carriers — a contribution recognized with the Air Force's highest civilian honor. It was a fitting decoration for a man who had long understood that engineering, at its most important, is inseparable from human consequence.
In 1996, Dr. Horowitz was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, a recognition reserved for those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice, or education. He served on the Naval Studies Board, where he led a Chief of Naval Operations–sponsored study on cybersecurity and participated in an ongoing evaluation of Navy cyber activities. He also served on the General Electric Academic Software Advisory Panel and as a Cyber Security Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and contributed his expertise through studies for the National Academy of Engineering, the Defense Science Board, and the Army Science Board.
Education
B.S. City College of New York, 1965
M.S. New York University, 1967
Ph.D. New York University, 1969