Building a Statewide Experiential Learning Portfolio in Cybersecurity

Luiz A. DaSilva; Liza Wilson Durant; Jordan Mason; Sarah Hayes

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED) Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43067
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43067
Download Count: 385

Paper Authors

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Luiz A. DaSilva Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Luiz A. DaSilva is the inaugural executive director of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI). He is internationally recognized for leadership and innovation in wireless communications and networks research. His 24 years of experience in academia include 18 years as a professor at Virginia Tech, where he is currently the Bradley Professor of Cybersecurity in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His most recent position prior to CCI was as the telecommunications chairholder at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and director of CONNECT – the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Future Communications and Network. DaSilva is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for his contributions to cognitive networking and to resource management in wireless networks. He pioneered the application of game theory to analyze and design wireless networks, authoring the first book on the topic. He is also responsible for seminal work on cognitive networking and spectrum and network sharing. He has authored two books, more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, and is a frequent keynote speaker and invited lecturer around the world. He has also been an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer (2015-18), a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and a Virginia Tech College of Engineering Faculty Fellow.

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Liza Wilson Durant George Mason University

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Liza Wilson Durant currently serves as the Associate Provost, George Mason University and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.

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Jordan Mason

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Sarah Hayes Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Abstract

The cybersecurity workforce gap is large, with an estimated 1.1 million employed workers and 770 thousand job openings across the country. This paper describes a statewide initiative that is creating a diverse experiential learning portfolio in cybersecurity that aims at closing the gap between students’ experiences and employers’ expectations. All experiential learning activities in this portfolio are led by institutions of higher education and are characterized by significant participation from companies and government agencies. Important goals of our portfolio include broadening participation by under-represented groups in the cybersecurity workforce and creating non-traditional pathways into cybersecurity careers.

Programs in our experiential learning portfolio generally fall under one of five categories: transdisciplinary experiential learning; internships; apprenticeships; cybersecurity competitions; and intensive training coupled with professional development activities. Recognizing the transdisciplinary nature of cybersecurity is key to expanding the workforce. We have embedded experiential learning components into the curriculum of disciplines outside the traditional domains of computer engineering, computer science, and information technology. Examples include a program focusing data poisoning of satellite imagery that is adopted in geography curricula and hands-on training in cybercrime and data forensics in cooperation with the Virginia State Police. We have created an array of paid internship programs that range from placements for high school juniors and seniors to a program that subsidizes internships for college students in cybersecurity startups. Additionally, our annual virtual Internship Fair averages participation from 300-500 students and dozens of companies. This year, we are piloting an apprenticeship program for professionals interested in transitioning into a cybersecurity career. We pay for a 19-week apprenticeship period, during which the apprentices work full time in one of our partner companies or government agencies; after this period, the apprentices are absorbed as regular employees. The program has attracted 400 applications for 21 positions. We organize a statewide capture-the-flag competition for college teams, with a separate division for community colleges. We also co-sponsor cyber competitions for high schoolers. And finally, we run annual in-person boot camps where undergraduates get intensive training on network security and artificial intelligence assurance testbeds. During these week-long boot camps, students also go through mock interviews and curriculum writing workshops, preparing them for job searches.

In the full paper, we will describe the structure of these programs and associated metrics. Early results indicate high retention rate: in the initial cohort of internships for cyber startups, 73% of interns received job offers after the completion of a summer-long internship; after the conclusion of another internship program aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, 91% of the interns remained in the cybersecurity field. Our learning portfolio has also been achieving great success in broadening participation in cybersecurity: our apprenticeship program has 90% participation from under-represented groups in STEM, and our internship programs have been achieving 50-80% participation from those groups. In two of the programs described here, 17-19% of participants were military veterans, aligned with our goal of creating non-traditional career paths into cybersecurity. Robust outreach to community colleges, minority serving institutions and organizations has been key to achieving these results.

Citation
Format

DaSilva, L. A., & Durant, L. W., & Mason, J., & Hayes, S. (2023, June), Building a Statewide Experiential Learning Portfolio in Cybersecurity Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43067

TY - CPAPER
AB - The cybersecurity workforce gap is large, with an estimated 1.1 million employed workers and 770 thousand job openings across the country. This paper describes a statewide initiative that is creating a diverse experiential learning portfolio in cybersecurity that aims at closing the gap between students’ experiences and employers’ expectations. All experiential learning activities in this portfolio are led by institutions of higher education and are characterized by significant participation from companies and government agencies. Important goals of our portfolio include broadening participation by under-represented groups in the cybersecurity workforce and creating non-traditional pathways into cybersecurity careers.

Programs in our experiential learning portfolio generally fall under one of five categories: transdisciplinary experiential learning; internships; apprenticeships; cybersecurity competitions; and intensive training coupled with professional development activities. Recognizing the transdisciplinary nature of cybersecurity is key to expanding the workforce. We have embedded experiential learning components into the curriculum of disciplines outside the traditional domains of computer engineering, computer science, and information technology. Examples include a program focusing data poisoning of satellite imagery that is adopted in geography curricula and hands-on training in cybercrime and data forensics in cooperation with the Virginia State Police. We have created an array of paid internship programs that range from placements for high school juniors and seniors to a program that subsidizes internships for college students in cybersecurity startups. Additionally, our annual virtual Internship Fair averages participation from 300-500 students and dozens of companies. This year, we are
piloting an apprenticeship program for professionals interested in transitioning into a cybersecurity career. We pay for a 19-week apprenticeship period, during which the apprentices work full time in one of our partner companies or government agencies; after this period, the apprentices are absorbed as regular employees. The program has attracted 400 applications for 21 positions. We organize a statewide capture-the-flag competition for college teams, with a separate division for community colleges. We also co-sponsor cyber competitions for high schoolers. And finally, we run annual in-person boot camps where undergraduates get intensive training on network security and artificial intelligence assurance testbeds. During these week-long boot camps, students also go through mock interviews and curriculum writing workshops, preparing them for job searches.

In the full paper, we will describe the structure of these programs and associated metrics. Early results indicate high retention rate: in the initial cohort of internships for cyber startups, 73% of interns received job offers after the completion of a summer-long internship; after the conclusion of another internship program aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, 91% of the interns remained in the cybersecurity field. Our learning portfolio has also been achieving great success in broadening participation in cybersecurity: our apprenticeship program has 90% participation from under-represented groups in STEM, and our internship programs have been achieving 50-80% participation from those groups. In two of the programs described here, 17-19% of participants were military veterans, aligned with our goal of creating non-traditional career paths into cybersecurity. Robust outreach to community colleges, minority serving institutions and organizations has been key to achieving these results.
AU - Luiz A. DaSilva
AU - Liza Wilson Durant
AU - Jordan Mason
AU - Sarah Hayes
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Building a Statewide Experiential Learning Portfolio in Cybersecurity
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43067
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43067
ER -