Developing Cybersecurity Technicians through Expanded Pathways in Rural and Underserved Communities

Cybersecurity is critical to the protection of computer systems and networks. Many businesses and organizations need to hire cybersecurity professionals to protect their cyberinfrastructure from persistent and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. The demand for cybersecurity technicians in Wisconsin is unmet with only eight of the 16 Wisconsin Technical College System districts in the State offering the “IT – Cybersecurity Specialist” credential degree program.

The goal of this project is to create a Cybersecurity associate degree program at Lakeshore Technical College that will establish a cybersecurity educational pipeline and will recruit and prepare women, low-income, and racial and ethnic minority students underrepresented as Cybersecurity Technicians. The project will stimulate interest from rural high schools and underrepresented students through a Cyber summer camp, sponsorship of a Cyber Patriot Team, and participation in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

First-term college classes will be delivered free of charge via distance learning by faculty as well as through trained high school instructors, providing high school students a means to complete a Cybersecurity associate degree in as little as eighteen months after graduating high school.

The proposed Cybersecurity associate degree program will focus on attaining the skills required for entry-level cybersecurity technicians. Eight cybersecurity employers, including large regional employers like Kohler and Johnsonville, will partner with the project to lead program design, create a scholarship initiative, and assist with recruitment efforts through the Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT).

At least five BILT members will represent underrepresented groups, serve as mentors to high school students, and provide representation at classroom visits and recruitment events in district high schools leading to enrollments in first-term college classes conducted in partnering high schools. The development of this talent pipeline will support the rural and manufacturing dominant economy in east-central Wisconsin by increasing skilled cybersecurity technicians to protect local IT infrastructure from nefarious attacks on data and systems.

The educational systems developed provide a transferable model, suitable for many community or technical colleges, and leading to better national representation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, and people from low-income backgrounds in the high paying cybersecurity technician workforce.

This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.

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.