Engaging K-12 Teachers to Help Build a Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline

该项目解决了北卡罗莱纳州皮埃蒙特三合会地区日益增长的网络安全专业人员需求，该地区由温斯顿-塞勒姆、格林斯博罗和高点等城市组成，是一个广阔的城市和农村社区。该项目将侧重于加强扩大网络安全专业人才管道所需的学术能力，以满足12个县地区的商业和行业需求。当地的初中和高中教师将参加福赛斯技术社区学院（FTCC）的16学时课程，这将使他们准备将网络安全原则融入他们的课堂。项目完成后，教师将拥有成为双录取高中学生有效教师所需的知识和技能，这将导致学生人数的增加，他们准备好并有动力参加为期两年的网络安全项目。这些教师还将准备获得网络安全认证，这将使他们有资格担任FTCC的兼职教师，并将提高学院在网络安全方面提供高等教育和劳动力相关指导的能力。三个目标指导项目团队的工作。首先是增加皮埃蒙特三合会地区网络安全专业人员的数量。二是增加中学和大专院校网络安全师资的数量和知识水平。第三，提高皮埃蒙特三合会地区网络安全人员的多样性。该项目预计将从其努力中看到几个成果。一是使FTCC提高对网络安全第一原则和实践的认识。另一个目标是为创新网络安全教育建立持久有效的伙伴关系。此外，学院设想保持人才管道充满受过良好教育，多技能，准备工作的毕业生，他们将能够帮助解决预计到2022年全国180万工人短缺的问题。该项目将利用北卡罗来纳州教育工作者的选择，无缝地将高中学生的双入学机会与社区大学授予的学分自动转换联系起来。通过项目与商业和行业领导者的合作，教师将对网络安全在学科中的作用有更深入的了解。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project addresses a growing need for cybersecurity professionals in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, an expanse of urban and rural communities anchored by the cities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point. The project will focus on bolstering the academic capacity required to expand the talent pipeline of cybersecurity professionals to serve business and industry needs across the 12-county region. Local middle school and high school faculty will be enrolled in a 16 credit-hour program at Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC) that will prepare them to integrate cybersecurity principles into their classrooms. Upon program completion, the teachers will have the knowledge and skills they need to be effective teachers of dual-enrolled high school students, which will result in an increase in the number of students who are prepared and motivated to enroll in a two-year program in cybersecurity. The teachers will also be prepared to earn cybersecurity certifications that will qualify them to serve as adjunct faculty at FTCC and will increase the college’s capacity to provide post-secondary and workforce-related instruction in cybersecurity.Three goals guide the project team's efforts. First is to increase the number of cybersecurity professionals in the Piedmont Triad region. Second is to increase the number and knowledge level of cybersecurity faculty at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Third is to improve the diversity of the cybersecurity workforce in the Piedmont Triad region. The project expects to see several outcomes from its efforts. One is to enable FTCC to increase awareness of cybersecurity first principles and practices. Another is to develop lasting and effective partnerships for innovative cybersecurity education. Additionally, the College envisions keeping the talent pipeline filled with well-educated, multi-skilled, work-ready graduates who will be able to help satisfy a projected national shortage of 1.8 million workers by 2022. The project will leverage options available to North Carolina educators to seamlessly link dual-enrollment opportunities for high school students with the automatic transfer of credit awarded by community colleges. Through project’s collaboration with business and industry leaders, teachers will develop deeper insights into the role of cybersecurity across academic disciplines. 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.