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A Look into Increasing the Number of Veterans and Former Government Employees Converting to Career and Technical Cybersecurity Teachers

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Military and Veterans Division Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Military and Veterans

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36590

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36590

Download Count

348

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Paper Authors

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Vukica M. Jovanovic Old Dominion University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8626-903X

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Dr. Vukica Jovanovic is a Batten Fellow and an Associate Professor of Engineering Technology in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program. She holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University in Mechanical Engineering Technology, focuses on Digital Manufacturing, Magistar (Ph.D. candidate) degree in Industrial Engineering and Management, focused on Production Systems Design, and dipl. ing. degree in Industrial Engineering focused on Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation. She went through engineering pathways herself, completing master electrician degree when completing Technical School in Uzice, Serbia, focusing on the pre-engineering program on high power voltage systems and maintenance of electromechanical systems. Her research is focused on engineering pathways, career and technical education, digital thread, cyber-physical systems, mechatronics, digital manufacturing, broadening participation, and engineering education. She is a Director of Mechatronics and Digital Manufacturing Lab at ODU and a lead of Area of Specialization Mechatronics Systems Design. She worked on projects focusing on digital thread and cybersecurity of manufacturing systems as a Visiting Researcher at Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Disputanta, VA. She has funded research in broadening participation efforts of underrepresented students in STEM funded by the U.S. Department of Education, focusing on computer science and cybersecurity pathways, and from the Office of Naval Research, focusing on mechatronic pathways. She is part of the ONR projects related to the additive manufacturing training of the active military. She is also part of the research team that has multiple projects funded from NSF focusing on veteran pathways and their success in engineering. She leads the team that delivers the summer program to nine graders that focus on broadening the participation of underrepresented students into STEM (ODU BLAST), funded by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.

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Michael Anthony Crespo Granby High School, Norfolk Public Schools, Norfolk, VA

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Department Chair,
Career and Technical Education
Granby High School, Norfolk, VA
I teach AP Computer Science Principles, Cyber Security Fundamentals and Cyber Security Software Operations
Code.org and codevirginia.org Computer Science Discoveries Facilitator

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Drew E. Brown Old Dominion University

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Deborah Marshall Norfolk Public Schools Career & Technical Ed. Dept.

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Otilia Popescu Old Dominion University

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Dr. Otilia Popescu received the Engineering Diploma and M.S. degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Romania, and the PhD degree from Rutgers University, all in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her research interests are in the general areas of communication systems, control theory, signal processing and engineering education. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Technology, at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and serves as the Program Director for the Electrical Engineering Technology Program. In the past she has worked for the University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas at San Antonio, Rutgers University, and Politehnica University of Bucharest. She is a senior member of the IEEE, served as associate editor for IEEE Communication Letters, and has served in the technical program committee for the IEEE ICC, WCNC, RWW, VTC, GLOBECOM, and CAMAD conferences.

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Murat Kuzlu Old Dominion University

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Murat Kuzlu (Senior Member – IEEE) joined the Department of Engineering Technology, Old Dominion University (ODU) in 2018 as an Assistant Professor. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Kocaeli University, Turkey, in 2001, 2004, and 2010, respectively. From 2005 to 2006, he worked as a Global Network Product Support Engineer at Nortel Networks, Turkey. In 2006, he joined the Energy Institute of TUBITAK-MAM (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey – The Marmara Research Center), where he worked as a senior researcher. Before joining ODU, he worked as a Research Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech’s Advanced Research Institute. His research interests include smart grid, demand response, smart metering systems (AMR, AMI, AMM), home and building energy management system, co-simulation, wireless communication, and embedded systems.

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Petros J. Katsioloudis Old Dominion University

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Petros J. Katsioloudis is a Professor, Department Chair and the Industrial Technology Program Leader, Department of STEM Education and Professional Studies, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. His research focuses on improving teacher and student performance in STEM education, and enhancing the development of a national STEM-educated workforce.

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Linda Vahala Old Dominion University

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Dr. Linda Vahala received her B.S..degree from the University of Illinois in 1969, an M.S. degree from the University of Iowa in 1971, and a Ph.D from Old Dominion University in 1983. Her publications include articles in both plasma physics and atomic physics with an emphasis on laser interactions with plasma and with neutral/rare gas collisions. She has presented her work at various international workshops and meetings, both in Europe and in the United States. She is currently Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at ODU. In 1995, she received the Peninsula Engineer of the Year award.

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Abstract

The current state of technology with recent explosions in the digital processing of paperwork, computer networking use, and online and virtual approaches to areas, which until very recently had traditional and non-computerized ways of operating, led to a steady increase in the demand for jobs in the area of computer science and cybersecurity. The education system, the pipeline for the incoming workforce, needs to keep up with this tremendous pace in technology and the job market. The current K-12 school system has been extensively challenged to fill out necessary positions in order to address the increasing need for programs that respond to industry and government entity gaps in employment. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a large segment of the economy to swiftly move to virtual working and virtual learning. This further increased the already large demand for cybersecurity jobs, and accelerated the pace at which the development of necessary education pathways is required. The education system, on all different levels, needs to adjust to this pace in order to enable a large number of future graduates to fill these new jobs. There is currently a large gap in the number of K-12 level teachers available in the area of career and technical education. One possible solution to this problem may come from a specific segment of the workforce, veterans. This paper will provide an overview of different challenges that many veterans are facing after joining career switcher programs for future teachers.

Jovanovic, V. M., & Crespo, M. A., & Brown, D. E., & Marshall, D., & Popescu, O., & Kuzlu, M., & Katsioloudis, P. J., & Vahala, L. (2021, July), A Look into Increasing the Number of Veterans and Former Government Employees Converting to Career and Technical Cybersecurity Teachers Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36590

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