This project establishes the Information Assurance Excellence Program (IAEP) to address the need for Information Assurance specialists in federal government agencies. The program creates a long-term recruitment pipeline that includes recruiting students on campus, creating agreements with community colleges, and providing early exposure for high school students. In addition to enrolling in courses as a cohort, the Scholars engage in professional and career development activities in which they deliver technical workshops and have opportunities to engage in discussions with practicing professionals. They participate in technology competitions and they work on research projects.
The evaluation of the program components and its overall effectiveness contributes to the body of knowledge and best practice strategies for successful recruitment, mentorship, retention and placement of Information Assurance professionals. This program emphasizes practice. Under the mentorship of experienced faculty and alumni IA professionals, IAEP students are required to work in applied activities beyond the classroom. Specific requirements include the dissemination of skills based learning in the form of presentations and workshops, peer outreach to community colleges and high schools, and participation in regional IA competitions.
IAEP recruitment efforts focus on attracting a diverse range of applicants from CSUSB and community colleges, many of whom are likely to be students from underrepresented groups. By offering mentoring and support to increase the scholarly abilities of these future professionals, and by maintaining these support mechanisms throughout their internships and in their ultimate placement, the program experiences little attrition. The results of the program form a replicable model that can be disseminated to other participating Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance colleges and universities.
California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) established the Information Assurance Excellent Program (IAEP) to address the need for Information Assurance specialists in federal government agencies. The program established a long-term recruitment pipeline that included recruiting students at CSUSB, creating agreements with community colleges, and providing early exposure experiences for high school students. In addition to enrolling in courses as a cohort, the Scholars engaged in professional and career development activities in which they delivered technical workshops and participated in opportunities to engage in activities with practicing professionals. To promote the Scholars’ academic achievement and career development, students wereassigned to an advisor who met regularly with the Scholar to review their progress. Students who experienced difficulty were able to avail themselves of tutoring specifically targeted to their needs. Our professional career development workshops focused in the areas of information assurance and computer security. The Scholars were involved in experiences that exposed them to "hands-on" applications of their knowledge and skills. Students were required to develop and deliver professional workshops on a variety of technical subjects. They will participated in technology competitions and they worked on research projects that provide support in the IASM Research Lab. All of these activities prepared the Scholars for their internship experiences. Graduated student placement in internships and permanent employment was 100%. Project objectives were exceeded: 1) recruited three cohorts of Scholars, each with 10 or 11 graduate and undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds; 2) provided academic support and mentoring to the Scholars that resulted in a 100% retention rate; 3) to facilitate the ongoing application of knowledge and skills, Scholars participated in one workshop per quarter and two competitions per year; 4) 100% of the Scholars were successfully placed in internships; 5) 100% of the scholarship recipients who graduated by summer 2012 are employed in the federal government; and 6) this program established processes and procedures to ensure the efficient and effective management of the program and are being modelled by other institutions. Intellectual Merit: The evaluation of the program components and its overall effectiveness contributed to the body of knowledge and best practice strategies for successful recruitment, mentorship, retention and placement of Information Assurance professionals. This program emphasized practice. Under the mentorship of experienced faculty and alumni IA professionals, IAEP students were required to work in applied activities beyond the classroom. Specific requirements included the dissemination of skills based learning in the form of presentations and workshops, peer outreach to community colleges and high schools, and participation in regional IA competitions. CSUSB has a tradition of community service, and in particular, nationally recognized information assurance professional development. Broader Impact: CSUSB is a Minority Serving Institution and a Hispanic Serving Institution – – 42.3% of its students are Hispanics, 14.1% are African American, 8.4% Asian and 1% Native-American (IPEDS). IAEP recruitment efforts targeted attracting a diverse range of applicants from CSUSB and community colleges, many of whom were students from underrepresented groups. The Scholars were diverse on both gender and ethnicity. The majority of the Scholars were hispanics and 43% female. The program will promoted information assurance employment by providing incentives and ‘roadmaps’ to excellent technology and science majors to pursue information assurance employment in the federal government. By offering mentoring and support to increase the pedagogical abilities of these future professionals, and by maintaining these support mechanisms throughout their internships and in their ultimate placement, we experienced no attrition. Established recruitment vehicles wereleveraged so that support and articulation activities were sustained within existing infrastructure. The results of the program are a replicable model that is being disseminated to other participating Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance colleges and universities.
