Trey Franklin is a Senior Embedded Software Engineer and team lead at DESE Research, Inc. in Huntsville, Alabama, where he supports Army S&T efforts aimed at strengthening the cybersecurity of embedded mission systems. His research focuses on how separation-kernel hypervisors, virtual machine introspection (VMI), and related technologies can enable modular, open system architectures without compromising security. He has also presented at several US Army CPE Aviation Cyber Rodeo events and served as the event coordinator for the 2026 Cyber Rodeo, which centered on Zero Trust approaches for aviation systems. He brings eight years of software engineering experience, including nearly five years focused on embedded systems for defense and aerospace applications, and holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University, where he graduated summa cum laude.