Curriculum Vitae
Education
Doctor of Engineering, Cybersecurity for Space Systems — Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD May 2026 (expected) Dissertation: "Cyber-Resilient Spacecraft Flight Software" Advisor: Dr. James Bellingham, Institute for Assured Autonomy Previous advisor: Dr. Gregory Falco (now at Cornell University)
Graduate Certificate in Applied and Computational Mathematics — Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD May 2024
M.S. in Computer Science — Capitol Technology University (then Capitol College), Laurel, MD 2013
B.S. in Computer Science — Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, AR 2003
Professional Experience
Group Chief Scientist, Constrained Cyber Solutions Group
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory — Laurel, MD October 2024 - Present
Chief scientist of one of the groups in APL's Cyber Operations Branch, building the group's research portfolio and guiding staff in pursuing fundamental and applied research.
Group Chief Engineer, Cyber Warfare Systems Group
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory — Laurel, MD June 2021 - September 2024
Chief engineer of APL's Cyber Warfare Systems Group, ensuring sponsor work met APL's quality standards and providing technical leadership to the group's staff.
Cybersecurity Engineer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory — Laurel, MD February 2017 - June 2021
Member of the technical staff and section supervisor within APL's Cyber Warfare Systems Group.
Cybersecurity Engineer
MITRE Corporation — Fort Meade, MD November 2010 - February 2017
Cybersecurity engineer supporting various MITRE sponsors in the Fort Meade area.
Cyberspace Operations Officer
United States Air Force August 2004 - October 2010
US Air Force cyberspace operations (formerly communications and information) officer. Assignments included expeditionary communications, air and space intelligence, and theater-wide communications.
Teaching
Guest Lecturer — Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
October 2024 - Present
Guest lecturer for the "Intersection of Space Systems Engineering and International Public Policy" course, jointly offered by SAIS and the Whiting School of Engineering.
Guest Lecturer — Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals
August 2024 - Present
Guest lecturer in the Space Systems Engineering program on cybersecurity topics.
Standards & Service
Vice-Chair, Ground Segment Subcommittee — IEEE P3536
IEEE Working Group on Space System Cybersecurity Design Standards July 2024 - Present
Co-leading the development of an IEEE standard on space cybersecurity for the ground segment and serving as a member of the steering committee.
Member of Program Committee, IEEE Workshop on Security and Resiliency of Critical Infrastructure and Space Technologies (IEEE SR-CIST)
July 2025 - Present
Publications
See Publications for the full list. Selected works:
- J. Curbo and G. Falco, "Cyber Resilience in Cislunar Space: Security Strategies for Large-Scale Space Infrastructure," 2025.
- J. Curbo and G. Falco, "Alcyone: A Blueprint for Secure Rust Flight Software," 2025.
- J. Curbo and G. Falco, "Testable Cyber Requirements for Space Flight Software," in Proc. 2025 IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2025.
- J. Curbo and G. Falco, "Attack Surface Analysis for Spacecraft Flight Software," in Proc. 2024 IEEE SMC-IT, pp. 22-30, 2024.
- J. Curbo and G. Falco, "A Research Agenda for Space Flight Software Security," in Proc. 2023 IEEE SMC-IT, pp. 68-77, 2023.
Research Interests
- Space systems cybersecurity
- Spacecraft flight software security
- Cyber resilience for cislunar infrastructure
- Secure software engineering
- Trustworthy systems engineering