Collaborative Research: Capacity Building: Building a Cybersecurity Pipeline through Experiential Virtual Labs and Workforce Alliances

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This project proposes to implement a cybersecurity concentration embedded in the Bachelor degree in Information Engineering Technology at Northern New Mexico College (NNMC). The concentration will consist of two regular core courses, two Capstone courses, and one internship experience. The program of studies will also include three cybersecurity-infused prerequisite courses involving computers, networking, and programming essentials. This effort will be conducted in partnership with the University of South Florida (USF). The comprehensive project has several components. First, the project will create advanced curricular and training material for 100-level to 400-level courses enriched with a large number of virtual laboratories (vLabs) covering the fundamental principles of cybersecurity. The vLabs and training manuals will be portable, ready to use and deployable in a standard virtual environment without the need for configuration or package installation, thus promoting resource sharing. The proposed curriculum will also include a training standard recognized by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) to meet the CNSS 4011 training standard. Second, NNMC and USF will establish an alliance with industry organizations and with Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), including Engineering/IT divisions at LANL and its National Security Education Center (NSEC), to create an internship program in cybersecurity. The alliance will strengthen the collaboration with industry and federal laboratories, in efforts to bolster national security. Third, NNMC will partner with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions and a regional rural high-school to strengthen the cybersecurity pipeline and increase the production of professionals to fill regional demand. Finally, the educational model and curricular material will be available and further disseminated through well-established channels, such as the Western Academy Support and Training Center (WASTC). WASTC provides computer science and IT training across the country and supports hundreds of higher education institutions that have interest in adopting vLabs.