Catalyst Project: Increasing Access and Inclusiveness in Cybersecurity through Lab Experiences

Catalyst项目为传统黑人学院和大学（HBCU）提供支持，以建立教师的研究能力，以加强科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）本科教育和研究。预计该奖项将进一步提高教师的研究能力，提高学院的研究和教学水平，并让本科生参与研究经验。邵逸夫大学寻求在校园内建立一个专门的网络运营实验室。该实验室将由能够承载虚拟环境的工作站组成，学生可以在其中进行模拟网络操作，例如红队/蓝队演习、脆弱性评估、夺旗比赛等。该实验室还将为学生提供一个安全和孤立的环境，让他们练习不应在公共领域练习的技能，例如漏洞扫描和渗透测试。网络运营实验室将为邵氏大学计算机科学学士学位的网络运营12门课程提供支持。网络运营专业为学生提供编程、数据结构、网络、安全策略和风险、虚拟化、恶意软件分析和道德黑客等方面的基础知识。学生需要一个物理实验室来学习他们在未来的网络安全角色中可能会遇到的实际硬件和软件的技能。因此，本项目将支持建立一个实验室，其硬件能够运行具有隔离网络环境的多个虚拟机和软件，如Packet Tracer， WireShark， Process Hacker和ProcDot，以进行网络和恶意软件分析。此外，网络运营实验室将为高中生提供网络安全相关的活动，以提高他们的兴趣，并为他们通过逸夫大学进入劳动力市场建立渠道。最后，网络运营实验室将设有Cy（Bear）安全研究小组，该小组专注于使用人工免疫系统和深度神经网络进行物联网入侵检测，用于动态网络监控和医疗设备渗透测试，以识别任何漏洞或弱点。该项目将为学生提供学习网络安全所需技能的机会，并有助于缩小STEM劳动力中存在的少数族裔代表差距。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。

Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to work towards establishing research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. Shaw University seeks to establish a dedicated Cyber Operations Lab on campus. The lab will consist of workstations capable of hosting virtualized environments where students can engage in simulated cyber operations, such as, red-team/blue-team exercises, vulnerability assessments, capture-the-flag-competitions, etc. The lab will also provide students a secure and isolated environment to practice skills which should not be exercised in public domains, such as vulnerability scanning and penetration testing.The Cyber Operations Lab will support the Cyber Operations 12-course concentration of the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree at Shaw University. The Cyber Operations concentration provide students with a foundation in programming, data structures, networks, security policy and risk, virtualization, malware analysis, and ethical hacking. A physical lab is required for students to learn those skills on actual hardware and software they can expect to encounter in their future cybersecurity roles. Accordingly, this project will support the establishment of a lab with hardware capable of running multiple virtual machines with isolated network environments and software, such as Packet Tracer, WireShark, Process Hacker, and ProcDot, to conduct network and malware analysis. In addition, the Cyber Operations Lab will be used to offer cybersecurity-related events for high school students to increase interest and build a pipeline for them to enter the workforce through Shaw University. Finally, the Cyber Operations Lab will house the Cy(Bear)security Research Group which is focused on Internet of Things intrusion detection using Artificial Immune Systems and Deep Neural Network for dynamic network monitoring and medical device penetration testing to identify any vulnerabilities or weaknesses. This project will give students the opportunity to learn desirable skills in cybersecurity and help to close the minority representation gap that exists in the STEM workforce.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.