Nebraska Cyber MATRIX

Matthew Hale, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), the Director for the School of Interdisciplinary Informatics (Si2) in the College of Information Science and Technology (IS&T), and the Director of Nebraska CYBER, a Nebraska University wide research center focused on advancing cybersecurity in the region. Dr. Hale received his Ph.D. from the University of Tulsa, working with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research on the creation of formal certification tools to verify that cloud-based information systems meet federal regulatory and industry-specified security controls. This work produced a formal verification language called Cloud X-UNITY and an interchangeable XML Schema for Security SLA specification called Sec Agreement. His current research interests focus on the intersectionality between security, web services, software engineering, and behavioral psychology. Dr. Hale has received nearly $5.7 Million in grants from NSF, NSA, DARPA, CISA, and others for work focused on STEM education, phishing prevention, and systems verification and validation.

 

In 2025, Dr. Hale's most active projects are MATRIX (Machine Learning, AI, and Threat Response Initiative for cybersecurity excellence), a new AI-enabled cybersecurity security operations center and training platform supported by a philanthropic donation from Barbara and Wally Weitz, and NTRUST (Nebraska Center for Threat Response and Underwriting Support for Terrorism-Related Cybersecurity Risks), a proposed NSF IUCRC center in collaboration with NCITE and the UNL Actuarial Science program.