CYBERSECURITY, ALIENS AND ASTEROIDS: WELCOME TO MIKE GOWANLOCK’S RESEARCH Trent alum says it’s an “exciting time for science” as his research supports cutting-edge work
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hether improving cybersecurity, enhancing science’s ability to detect asteroids in the solar system, or helping maximize the chance of finding extraterrestrial life, Trent alumnus Professor Mike Gowanlock ’03 is working on the cutting edge of computer science, astroinformatics and astrobiology. Prof. Gowanlock, who completed his undergrad in Computer Science and his master’s in Applied Modelling and Quantitative Methods at Trent University, is currently an assistant professor in the School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University.
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His forward-thinking work includes research into post-quantum cryptography that will increase security for governments and banking, improving algorithms for a telescope that surveys space for events such as active asteroids, better understanding which areas of the galaxy may be most hospitable to complex land-based life, and calculating where to point a telescope in the night sky to maximize the chances of detecting a signal from an alien civilization.
