Nicholas Heinrich-Barna

Research Interests

My research focuses on security assurance for PLCs and embedded systems. I develop novel verification techniques.

• PLC Fuzzing: ICS security via fuzzing modern PLCs.
• Custom Rowhammer Attack: FPGA-based RAM cell manipulation.
• Custom DOS Scripts: TCP reset, packet flooding, ARP poisoning.

News

• [Aug. 2025] Received SMART Scholarship funding my PhD program.
• [May 2023] Completed Vulnerability Research Internship at Raytheon CODEX.
• [Mar 2022] SOC analyst intern at MISI Dreamport.

Leading Publications

Awards & Honors

• SMART Scholar, 2024–2029
• Top Academic Mentor, Corps of Cadets, 2021–2022

Education

• Ph.D. Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University (2023 – present)
  Advisor: Dr. Jeyavijayan "JV" Rajendran
  Focus: Hardware Security Assurance in Industrial Control Systems
• B.Sc. Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University (2018 – 2023)
  Minor: Cybersecurity
• B.Sc. Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University (2018 – 2023)