“Leading IT Through the Chaos of COVID”

Dr. Amy Diehl is an award-winning information technology executive and leading expert on gender bias, dedicated to breaking barriers and transforming workplaces. She is author of GLASS WALLS: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work (Rowman & Littlefield) and a sought-after keynote speaker, workshop leader, and panelist.

Currently the Chief Information Officer at Wilson College, she previously served as Associate Vice President & Chief Information Technology Officer at Shippensburg University. She holds a Ph.D. in administration and leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where her research focused on how women leaders in higher education make meaning of adversity. She also holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in French from Shippensburg University, as well as an M.B.A. from Frostburg State University.

Recognized as a Higher Ed IT Influencer by EdTech (2020) and a Woman of Influence by the Central Penn Business Journal (2019), Dr. Diehl has also received the Impact Award from the College of Education and Human Services at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2026) and the Women and Leadership Affinity Group Outstanding Scholarship for Emerging Scholars Award from the International Leadership Association (2016).

Her research is widely published in academic journals and book chapters. She has appeared on CNN and has also written for Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Ms. Magazine, and University Business Magazine. Find her online at https://amy-diehl.com .

Topics in all areas of computer science, computer education, computer engineering, and related computing fields will be considered. Submissions are being solicited in the following areas

• Papers for peer review
• Posters (size of poster display space is 3′ by 4′) 
• Special sessions (birds-of-a-feather)
• Abstracts (for your non-peer review consideration)

Please send your submissions to Dr. Naresh Adhikari via email at naresh.adhikari@sru.edu and fill out the submission form (Submission Details Form – PACISE 2026) by the end of the day on the submission deadline.

We ask faculty to encourage graduate and undergraduate students who are involved in research and large class projects to submit their work for consideration.

Paper Submissions 

Papers submitted (PACISEPaperTemplate) for peer-review are to be no longer than ten pages and must be in MS Word (preferred) or PDF format. The early submission deadline is Tuesday, Feb 10th, 2026.  This is for those that need an acceptance response at least one month before the date of the conference.  The deadline for submission to be published in the proceedings is no later than Wednesday, March 11th, 2026. Initial submissions should not include author names, affiliations, or email addresses in the document. Please indicate whether you are submitting in the student-undergraduate, student-graduate or faculty category. 

Conference registration by at least one author is required for publication in the proceedings.

Poster Submissions

Those wishing to make a poster presentation should submit an abstract no later than Friday, March 27th. An abstract template (PACISEAbstractTemplate) is available to use as a guideline for submission. The posters can be 3′ wide by 4′ tall or 4’ wide by 3’ tall.  Anything larger or smaller may have issues being displayed properly.  Requests can be made if you need power available near your display (Jody Burdge).

Special Topic Proposals

Those wishing to propose special topics (birds-of-a-feather, workshops, etc.) should submit a one-page proposal in the form of an abstract no later than Friday, March 27th. A special topics template is available (PACISE Special Topics Template) to use as a guideline for submission. 

Abstract Submissions

Those wishing to make a presentation, but without submitting a paper for the peer review process, should submit an abstract no later than Friday, March 27th. An abstract template (PACISE Abstracts Template) is available to use as a guideline for submission. 

All Information in this section is subject to change

Registration

PACISE 2026 Programming Contest Registration Form

Teams will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis as space permits. Each team must complete the contest application form and submit it no later than March 30th 2026. Applications will be acknowledged via email. Note: Team members must also register for the PACISE Conference (PACISE 2026 Conference Registration)

Information and Rules

Team Composition

All team members, including faculty and alternates, must be registered for the conference using the conference registration form. Any team with one or more members unregistered for the conference will be disqualified. Each team is comprised solely of undergraduate students currently registered at that school. There will be two or three undergraduate students per team, plus alternates.

Location and Hardware

The programming contest location is MCT 158 and MCT 162. All machines will be running Linux with the following configuration:

• TBD

Each team will be assigned its own account for the practice run and a different account for the competition.

We will be using Hackerrank for managing the competition. It has not yet been determined whether we will use automated or manual judging.

All programs must be written in C, C++, Java, or Python using installed compilers stated above.

Each team will be allocated one computer.

Contest Time

There will be a practice session which begins Friday evening at 7:30 PM for the purpose of familiarizing participants with the computing environment. Teams will given directions on using our machines and the XXXXX, followed by a practice session with one sample problem. This practice session ends at 9:30.

The contest will officially run on Saturday April 11th from 9:00 AM until 11:45 AM. A group of problems will be given to solve in this time period.

Contest Procedures, Rules and Restrictions

No internet access will be allowed.

Students can bring text books and printouts, but no electronic tools (flash drives, cell phones, electronic watches, calculators, etc.).

All decisions of the judges and/or the contest chair regarding permissible references are final.

Team advisors coaches, and alternates are NOT permitted to help (or hinder) teams solve problems during the contest.

The conference organizers cannot be responsible for the security of unattended electronic devices.

Refreshments

Refreshments will be available.

Rule Violations

Violations of the rules may result in team penalties or disqualification.

All decisions of the contest judges and/or contest chair are final.

Questions

Please forward any questions to Dr. Chen Huo (chuo@ship.edu), Chair, Programming contest.

PACISE 2026 Security Competition

The PACISE 2026 Security Competition will provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to demonstrate and strengthen their practical cybersecurity skills through a hands-on Capture The Flag (CTF) contest environment. The competition is intended to promote student engagement in applied computer security through realistic technical challenges involving vulnerability discovery, exploitation, and analysis.

Contest Format

The competition is expected to follow a team-based CTF format. Teams will solve practical cybersecurity challenges in areas such as:

• Web
• Web Security
• Binary Exploitation / Stack Overflow
• Cryptography
• Multi-stage exploitation problems, such as Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) and GOT overwrite attacks

The contest platform is expected to be Badger CTF, a custom online judge and scoring system.

Eligibility and Team Composition

• Each team may include up to three students
• Each institution may register up to three teams

Registration

Register for PACISE 2026 Security Competition

Registration submissions should include:

• Full names of all team members
• Email addresses of all team members
• Advisor or coach name and email address
• Institution name

Team members must also register for the PACISE Conference (Conference Registration Form). The number of students per team must not exceed three. Each institution can register up to three teams. Each team must complete the contest application form and submit it no later than March 30th 2026.

Contest Rules and Scoring

• Teams will attempt to solve a set of cybersecurity challenges by identifying vulnerabilities, exploiting services, or recovering hidden flags
• Points will be awarded based on successful flag submissions and challenge difficulty

Contest Rules and Scoring

• Teams will attempt to solve a set of cybersecurity challenges by identifying vulnerabilities, exploiting services, or recovering hidden flags
• Points will be awarded based on successful flag submissions and challenge difficulty
• Final rankings will be determined first by the number of correctly solved challenges, and then by the shortest cumulative submission time in the event of a tie

Contest Environment

Participants are expected to be permitted to:

• Use their own laptops or designated computers at the contest site
• Use external reference materials
• Use printed notes and pre-prepared code snippets
• Use debugging or development utilities as allowed by the contest environment

Plagiarism or direct cheating will result in disqualification.

Contest Venue and Schedule

Building and Room: TBD

Date and Time (Tentative): The contest will be held on Friday, April 10th, 3:00 -6:00 pm

For more information or questions, please contact: Dr. Si Chen (schen@wcupa.edu)