WiscNet Research
WiscNet Research actively promotes and participates in discovery and understanding to help build new technologies and advanced networking.
What We Set Out to Do
WiscNet has long been defined by how it embraces, helps build, and creates access to future technologies. But in January 2025, it became clear we needed someone to spearhead innovative research initiatives that advance both scientific understanding and technological capabilities. WiscNet hired Principal Research Scientist David Plonka, who built a research program that’s now in its second year. WiscNet Research has opened the door to new ways of thinking and doing at WiscNet while building a strong platform of research collaborators. The program and Plonka’s work are driven by three core ambitions:
FOSTER COLLABORATIONS: Coordinate and foster research and research collaborations including, but not limited to, projects amongst member institutions and across disciplines; identify and pursue strategic grant opportunities that benefit our membership community.
ESTABLISH A COMMUNITY: Establish and nurture a vibrant research and science community, creating an environment that encourages experimentation and learning while bridging the crucial gap between academic research and practical implementation.
ENHANCE THE NETWORK: Leverage WiscNet's extensive infrastructure to analyze network phenomena and develop methodologies that enhance services, security, performance, and delivery.
Making Connections
Making people connections powerfully supports scientific discovery. WiscNet wants to introduce and involve partners across the state, nation and world to advance technology-based research. Here are three ways we’re doing that:
Recruiting Champions
STEM Champions is an initiative of WiscNet Research that aims to build a community that facilitates knowledge exchange and collaboration among Wisconsin researchers. To learn more or join this community, scroll down to the “Champions” section on this page.
Engaging the Community
WiscNet Research makes campus visits, attends science fairs, engages in mentorship, and participates in conferences near and far in an effort to build partnerships, stay active in Wisconsin’s scientific community, and cultivate the next generation of researchers.
Fostering Collaboration
In an effort to make scientific strides and identify strategic opportunities, WiscNet Research collaborates with other researchers, pursues research funding and builds partnerships across disciplines. Scroll down to “Collaborators & Partners” to see who we’ve connected with so far.
Meet WiscNet’s Principal Research Scientist
Dave Plonka (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison) is the Principal Research Scientist at WiscNet who has been building WiscNet Research from the ground up since January 2025. His role involves leading research initiatives in networking, grant writing and administration, presenting at professional conferences locally and internationally, mentoring young scholars, and actively building and leading a research community. Through all of this work, Plonka translates research into practical implementations in concert with others. Plonka also plays the role of online/virtual scientist to WiscNet members. These efforts are meant to enhance network operations and member services while respecting the privacy and security of members’ systems and data.
Plonka’s areas of expertise include methodologies for analyzing network security, performance, and network traffic classification. He is a member of the Internet Research Task Force's (IRTF) Steering Group (IRSG) and chairs the Measurement and Analysis for Protocols Research Group (MAPRG). You can find the research group's presentations' videos and slides linked on the MAPRG wiki. A list of his publications and patents can be found on his Google Scholar profile.
Reach David Plonka at research@wiscnet.net, or set up a virtual appointment by clicking the button below.
WiscNet Research Projects
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WiscNet performs and publishes network and cybersecurity-related research. Through collaborations with WiscNet member schools and other colleagues, we develop analysis techniques that explore how WiscNet and the Internet are used and what common challenges exist in research and education networking. As applied research, these activities help the community understand potential security and privacy vulnerabilities and provide the best services in our statewide network as well as members’ networks.
PUBLICATIONS
Thorn in the USA: On SPF, DMARC, and CAA Adoption and Misconfiguration by Institutions
Alexander Gebhard, David Plonka, Cameron Fronczak, and Debbie Perouli
The 6th IEEE Cyber Awareness & Research Symposium (CARS), October 26-28, 2026Is Protective DNS Blocking the Wild West?
David Plonka, Branden Palacio, Debbie Perouli
ACM IMC 2025 Workshop of Policy-Relevant Internet Measurements and Experimentation (PRIME), Madison, WI, October, 2025Measured Approaches to IPv6 Address Anonymization and Identity Association
David Plonka and Arthur Berger
ACM IMC 2025 Workshop of Policy-Relevant Internet Measurements and Experimentation (PRIME), Madison, WI, October, 2025
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As a Research & Education Network, WiscNet operates modern standard protocols and best practices in support of member activities and Internet research. We actively participate in the Internet Engineering Task Force and Internet Research Task Force meetings to keep up with nascent protocols and influence future directions. Plonka serves on the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG) and chairs the Measurement & Analysis for Protocols Research Group (MAPRG), fostering student participation in Internet engineering.
Collaborators & Partners
Champions
WiscNet Research is forming a community of Wisconsin’s STEM champions. Whether you think of yourself as a STEM champion already, are curious about how to become a champion, or can simply help identify your K-12, higher ed, or other institutions’ champions, let’s connect to see how you can be involved in WiscNet Research.