Longitudinal Injection of Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Awareness into Engineering Curricula

即将到来的智能技术，如智慧城市、物联网和无人机，将现有技术数字化，需要具有网络安全意识的多学科工程专家来确保这些设备的安全。随着设备变得更加智能和互联，以提供更好的服务，它们也成为网络攻击的更大目标。确保智能技术的正常运行需要训练有素、积极主动的工程师，他们熟悉核心工程原理、与其设计相关的网络安全风险以及其他相互关联的学科的风险。该合作项目的目标是通过跨工程学科的合作，通过培养整体方法，开发和采用跨学科的网络安全课程。通过邀请来自不同工程学科的学者，该项目探索了独特的方式，让学生参与跨学科的网络安全意识工程教育。内华达大学里诺分校开发的知识单元将传播到全国的工程学院，以维持安全工程方面的长期研究和教育伙伴关系。网络安全研究及其应用与所有工程领域都高度相关，包括计算机、电气、机械、土木和生物医学学科。研究人员将开发知识单元，向多个工程学科的本科生介绍和加强网络安全的重要性，重点是智能城市、物联网和无人机。这三个广泛的技术领域需要多个工程领域的专业知识，并且从宏观层面的观点到微观层面的观点，其中每个部门都包含下一个部门。网络安全意识将有机地注入工程新生的新兵训练营、新生工程入门体验课程和特定学科的技术工程课程中，通常在大三和大四期间进行。该项目将把工程学院聚集在一起开发知识单元，这些知识单元可以无缝地应用于不同的工程学科。教学将增加实践活动，以创造一个互动的网络安全教育环境，刺激学习。将开发一个“互联城市”竞技场，包括各种网络物理系统，这些系统集成在一起，用于实际参与网络安全。通过本项目开发的跨学科教育模块和实践活动，学生将扎实掌握不同工程学科之间的相互作用，并获得设计应对网络攻击的智能技术所需的关键知识和技能。

Upcoming smart technologies such as Smart Cities, Internet of Things, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles digitize current technologies and require cybersecurity-aware multi-disciplinary engineering experts to ensure the security of such devices. As devices become smart and interconnected to provide improved services, they also become greater targets of cyber-attacks. Ensuring proper operation of smart technologies requires well-trained, proactive engineers, who are knowledgeable on core engineering principles, cybersecurity risks associated with their designs, and risks from other interconnected disciplines. The goal of this collaborative project is to develop and adopt interdisciplinary cybersecurity curriculum by fostering a holistic approach through collaboration across engineering disciplines. By bringing scholars from different engineering disciplines, this project explores unique ways to engage students in interdisciplinary cybersecurity-aware engineering education. The knowledge units developed at the University of Nevada, Reno will be disseminated to engineering colleges nationwide to sustain long-term research and education partnerships in secure engineering.Cybersecurity research and its applications are highly relevant in all areas of engineering, including computer, electrical, mechanical, civil and biomedical disciplines. Researchers will develop knowledge units to introduce and reinforce the importance of cybersecurity to undergraduate students across several engineering disciplines with a focus on Smart Cities, Internet of Things, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. These three broad technological areas require expertise in multiple engineering fields and go from macro-level view to micro-level view where each of the sectors encompass the next one. Cybersecurity awareness will be injected organically in a boot camp for incoming engineering freshman, a freshman experience course on Introduction to Engineering, and discipline-specific technical engineering courses, typically during junior and senior years. The project will bring together engineering faculty to develop knowledge units that can be seamlessly adopted across various engineering disciplines. Instruction will be augmented with hands-on activities to create an interactive cybersecurity education environment and stimulate learning. A "Connected Cities" playing arena will be developed, comprising various cyber physical systems that are integrated for hands-on cybersecurity engagement. Through interdisciplinary educational modules and hands-on activities developed via this project, students will obtain a solid grasp on the interplay between different engineering disciplines and obtain critical knowledge and skills needed to engineer smart technologies that are resilient to cyber-attacks.