Profile
Summer is a three-time CISO in the autonomous vehicle industry currently at Torc Robotics, which specializes in AI software for long-haul trucking. She is also a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University where she teaches a graduate course in cybersecurity
policy and multiple courses on cybersecurity metrics and product cybersecurity for executive education programs. In addition, Summer serves on the board of directors for Brentwood Bank, a regional bank in Pittsburgh, PA. She is
also an active board member for the Forte Group, an advocacy and education non-profit focused on amplifying women in technology, cybersecurity, and privacy. Summer is often requested to speak at conferences and events, and she has
provided expert testimony on cybersecurity risk in the US Congress.
Prior to her role at Torc Robotics, Summer worked at Motional and Argo AI, both AI companies focused on robo-taxi technology. She also led cybersecurity risk and resilience at Carnegie Mellon University's CERT program and Johns Hopkins University's
Applied Physics Lab. Summer started her career as a software engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation after receiving her MS and BS in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh.
Expertise
- Cyber Risk Management
- Crisis Management
- Reporting & Communications
- Cybersecurity Training
- Cyber Metrics and Measurement
Qualifications
Achievements & Contributions
- Summer was named as one of the Top 25 Women in Cyber Security by The Software Report (2021)
Upcoming Events
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March 04 2025
2025 March Webinar: Security Implications of Chinese-Developed LLMs
In late January, the Chinese start-up company DeepSeek introduced an open-source large language model (LLM) that led to billion-dollar impacts on the stock market and myriad questions around the future of LLM development and use. In this webinar, IANS Faculty Summer Fowler and Jake Williams discuss the security risks with LLMs developed by Chinese organizations. While keeping the math to a minimum, some technical background in LLMs is critical to understanding these issues. Expect to learn some about how LLMs actually work, what "open source" actually means for an LLM, and why it's impossible to fully audit a model.
March 05 2025
2025 Q1 Symposium: Data Governance for the AI World: A Practical Roadmap
AI is putting legacy data governance processes under a microscope. In response, a number of key frameworks are emerging to provide a foundation for orgs to use as a starting point. This session dives into the strategic and tactical steps to take to improve AI governance, regardless of which framework you choose, and provides a rundown of some of the most prominent AI governance frameworks.
March 20 2025
2025 IANS VAC Webinar: Build a Better Business Case
Knowing you need a new security tool or service is easy, but explaining the need to non-tech execs and getting the budget in place is often far from simple.
April 08 2025
2025 Q2 Symposium: Data Governance for the AI World: A Practical Roadmap
AI is putting legacy data governance processes under a microscope. In response, a number of key frameworks are emerging to provide a foundation for orgs to use as a starting point. This session dives into the strategic and tactical steps to take to improve AI governance, regardless of which framework you choose, and provides a rundown of some of the most prominent AI governance frameworks.