Securing the Future: Inclusive Cybersecurity Education for All

该项目旨在通过在蓝草社区和技术学院建立一个包容性的网络安全技术人员教育来服务于国家利益，以确保未来的网络安全劳动力的安全。该项目旨在解决肯塔基州缺乏熟练的网络安全专业人员的问题。该项目团队计划调查影响高中生和大学生职业决定的因素，找出完成证书的潜在障碍，并评估教师和同行指导对学生成功的影响。项目团队打算确定有效的指导属性，以便有效地招聘熟练的技术员工。该项目有可能通过加强高中生、教师和辅导员获取准确信息的途径，增加网络安全证书的注册人数。该项目将支持同伴导师，以及高中教师的暑期讲习班。一名兼职留任和招聘专家计划聘请近同行导师，通过在大学校园内举办网络安全职业探索研讨会，为少数族裔和女性学生提供支持。该项目团队计划从当地高中招募240名不同的学生(包括女学生和在STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生)加入一个混合校园计划。这一混合计划包括各种活动，让学生接触到网络安全技能、资历和职业道路。该项目将在整个项目期间招聘和培训20名教师或辅导员。该项目团队将为教师或辅导员提供网络安全的基本知识，以便他们能够帮助注册了双学分网络安全课程的高中生取得成功。该项目的调查结果将传播给全州的其他社区学院。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by creating an inclusive cybersecurity technician education for all at Bluegrass Community and Technical College in order to secure the future cybersecurity workforce. The project intends to address Kentucky's shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. The project team plans to investigate factors influencing high school and college students' career decisions, identify potential barriers to credential completion, and assess the impact of faculty and peer mentoring on student success. The project team intends to identify effective mentoring attributes in order to effectively recruit skilled technical employees. The project has the potential to increase enrollment in cybersecurity credentials by enhancing access to accurate information for high school students, teachers, and counselors. The project will support peer mentors, and summer workshops for high school teachers. A part-time retention and recruitment specialist plans to engage near-peer mentors to support minority and female students by hosting workshops of the cybersecurity career exploration across the college campus. The project team plans to recruit 240 diverse students (including female students and students from groups underrepresented in STEM) from local high schools into a hybrid campus program. This hybrid program includes various activities to expose students to cybersecurity skills, credentials and career pathways. The project will recruit and train 20 teachers or counselors over the life of the project. The project team will provide teachers or counselors with a basic understanding of cybersecurity so that they will be able to facilitate success for high school students enrolled in dual credit cybersecurity courses. The project findings will be disseminated to other community colleges across the state. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the Nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.