This project is developing an associate degree in cybersecurity based on materials, courses, and curricula previously developed by ATE centers for cybersecurity education, especially the Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA).
Project activities include:
* creating a fully articulated career pathway connecting classes in the 11th and 12th grades of high school with an associate degree program in cybersecurity at Clark State Community College, and connecting the associate degree program at Clark State with a four-year degree at two neighboring public universities, Central State University and Wright State University;
* connecting the career pathway in cybersecurity to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's new "Career Path Model";
* providing professional development for the college faculty and high school teachers who will teach the new curriculum, as well as appropriate training for guidance counselors;
* documenting the linkages between corporate cybersecurity requirements and the college's curriculum;
* integrating classroom learning and work-based experiences by placing students in internships and other project-based business learning experiences in cybersecurity; and
* recruiting a diverse population of students for the program through connections with GEAR UP and Project Lead the Way at the high school level.
Clark State Community College has a partnership with Avetec, a nonprofit research organization, for facilitating business involvement in cybersecurity and high-performance computing. The project is leveraging this partnership to develop and implement the new curriculum. In particular, Clark State is working with Avetec and other local employers (including QBase, Lexis Nexis, SAIC, Computer Sciences Corporation, Standard Register, Teradata, NCR, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) to create high-quality cybersecurity internship opportunities for students.
Expected outcomes of the project include a clearly defined career pathway that can be adopted by other high schools and colleges, significant improvement in student learning in the discipline of cybersecurity, new models for high school and college faculty to work and learn together, new models for work-based learning for students, and integration of high-performance computing and other advanced technologies into the cybersecurity curriculum to meet current and future workforce needs for skilled technicians.
" was the first National Science Foundation grant received by Clark State Community College, located in Springfield, Ohio. It was awarded in the "Small Grants for Institutions New to the Advanced Technological Education Program" category. The impact of the grant has created significant outcomes and changes for the college, its faculty, and its students. The broader impacts of the project are far reaching for students and employers. For students, the May 10, 2010 Ohio Board of Regents approval of a new degree, the Associate of Applied Science in Cyber Security/Information Assurance Technology, has created a new career path to address one of the nation’s fastest growing career fields, addressing the critical need to protect the computer infrastructure of our country from cyber-attacks. 24 students were enrolled in the new degree program in the fall of 2010, 27 were enrolled in the fall of 2011, and 33 were enrolled in fall of 2012. Both the speedy approval of the new degree and the rapid growth of enrollments exceeded the originally planned outcomes for the grant. A further broad impact significant for students is implementation of the blended, virtual internship model developed through the project. Clark State Community College students did not normally engage in summer research projects or become associated with national laboratories, federal government centers, and nationally known research universities. Through the work of Clark State’s primary business partner and co-principal investigator for the NSF grant, Avetec, Inc., the project allowed 31 student interns to participate in internships and other experiential, hands-on activities with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology and other federal centers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Indiana University, and other organizations. The "blended, virtual" approach allowed students to be physically located at either the PNNL in Richland, Washington or at Avetec, Inc., in Springfield, Ohio while working as a team on cyber security research. Involving 31 students in these high-powered internships exceeded the original grant objective to involve 16 to 20 students. Two major broader impacts for employers are the preparation of skilled technicians to meet their cyber security and information networking needs and the development of the blended, virtual internship model, imbedding faculty with student interns. Both small regional companies and large national employers, including Lockheed, Honda, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Navistar, have hired graduates who are now working to help protect the nation’s cyber information technology systems. Intellectual merit outcomes of the project impacted Clark State faculty and the college as a whole, including its student career support center. These outcomes have been disseminated and shared with other colleges and universities. A notable finding of intellectual merit is the use of faculty and student teams for faculty professional development. The approach embeds faculty with students as team members for the student internship. Faculty gained personal experience in applying their subject matter knowledge to real world challenges in business and government organizations and then bringing back their learning to their classrooms to share with larger numbers of students. Employer interest in the faculty and student team approach is growing and can be replicated. Also of significance to faculty development was the opportunity for faculty to see their students in a work setting. This was eye-opening for faculty who may see an "A" student flounder in a work setting due to the lack of business "soft" skills and may also see a "C" student thrive when actually applying their skills to a hands-on challenge. These observations by faculty have informed their teaching when they return to the classroom after their externships. A further intellectual merit outcomes for the college and its students is that, prior to implementation of the grant, interest in internships was waning. The college’s career services office has now seen growth in students seeking internships and work study opportunities as a result of dissemination of results on campus by the ATE project students and by the project’s PI and Co-PI. There were unexpected findings. Several that are of significant intellectual merit and worthy of further research are (1) the growth in the use of high performance computing (super-computing) and the lack of college level training for technicians to maintain and secure the high performance machines; (2) the importance of an active business partner on the grant and the influence and impact that had with other businesses and with faculty; (3) the positive impact that internship experiences had on the academic persistence and aspirations of community college students; and (4) the creation of "blended" internships, creating both virtual and live teamwork with faculty externs and student interns.
