Developing Cybersecurity Technicians through Expanded Pathways in Rural and Underserved Communities

网络安全对保护计算机系统和网络至关重要。许多企业和组织需要雇佣网络安全专家来保护他们的网络基础设施免受持续和日益复杂的网络攻击。威斯康星州对网络安全技术人员的需求没有得到满足，该州16个威斯康星技术学院系统区中只有8个提供“IT -网络安全专家”证书学位课程。该项目的目标是在湖岸技术学院创建一个网络安全副学士学位课程，该课程将建立一个网络安全教育渠道，并将招募和培养女性、低收入者和少数族裔学生，使其成为网络安全技术人员。该项目将通过网络夏令营、赞助网络爱国者队和参加全国大学网络防御竞赛来激发农村高中和弱势学生的兴趣。第一学期的大学课程将由教师和训练有素的高中教师通过远程学习免费授课，为高中学生提供在高中毕业后短短18个月内完成网络安全副学士学位的方法。拟议的网络安全副学士学位课程将侧重于获得入门级网络安全技术人员所需的技能。包括科勒（Kohler）和约翰逊维尔（Johnsonville）等大型区域性雇主在内的八家网络安全雇主将与该项目合作，领导项目设计，创建奖学金计划，并通过商业和行业领导团队（BILT）协助招聘工作。至少有五名BILT成员将代表未被充分代表的群体，担任高中学生的导师，并在地区高中的课堂参观和招生活动中提供代表，以促进在合作高中举办的第一学期大学课程的入学。这一人才管道的发展将通过增加熟练的网络安全技术人员来保护当地IT基础设施免受数据和系统的恶意攻击，从而支持威斯康星州中东部的农村和制造业主导经济。所开发的教育系统提供了一种可转移的模式，适用于许多社区或技术学院，并在高薪网络安全技术人员队伍中更好地代表了女性、种族和少数民族以及低收入背景的人。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。

Cybersecurity is critical to the protection of computer systems and networks. Many businesses and organizations need to hire cybersecurity professionals to protect their cyberinfrastructure from persistent and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. The demand for cybersecurity technicians in Wisconsin is unmet with only eight of the 16 Wisconsin Technical College System districts in the State offering the “IT – Cybersecurity Specialist” credential degree program. The goal of this project is to create a Cybersecurity associate degree program at Lakeshore Technical College that will establish a cybersecurity educational pipeline and will recruit and prepare women, low-income, and racial and ethnic minority students underrepresented as Cybersecurity Technicians. The project will stimulate interest from rural high schools and underrepresented students through a Cyber summer camp, sponsorship of a Cyber Patriot Team, and participation in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. First-term college classes will be delivered free of charge via distance learning by faculty as well as through trained high school instructors, providing high school students a means to complete a Cybersecurity associate degree in as little as eighteen months after graduating high school.The proposed Cybersecurity associate degree program will focus on attaining the skills required for entry-level cybersecurity technicians. Eight cybersecurity employers, including large regional employers like Kohler and Johnsonville, will partner with the project to lead program design, create a scholarship initiative, and assist with recruitment efforts through the Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT). At least five BILT members will represent underrepresented groups, serve as mentors to high school students, and provide representation at classroom visits and recruitment events in district high schools leading to enrollments in first-term college classes conducted in partnering high schools. The development of this talent pipeline will support the rural and manufacturing dominant economy in east-central Wisconsin by increasing skilled cybersecurity technicians to protect local IT infrastructure from nefarious attacks on data and systems. The educational systems developed provide a transferable model, suitable for many community or technical colleges, and leading to better national representation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, and people from low-income backgrounds in the high paying cybersecurity technician workforce.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.