Harry Coker, Jr., the nation’s top cybersecurity official, worries that the United States won’t be able to meet its need for trained cybersecurity experts to battle the growing number of threats from around the world.
That’s why Coker, the White House national cyber director, was heartened last week after visiting a ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ summer program that provides Nevada teachers with skills to excite their young students about careers in cybersecurity.
Ten teachers from high schools and middle schools in Northern Nevada completed the six-week Research Experiences for Teachers — known commonly as “RET” — program offered by the University’s Cybersecurity Center. Since its inception in 2015, the program has been supported by nearly $1.8 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation.
That’s money well-spent as the nation faces a current shortage of about 500,000 cybersecurity workers, Coker told a University audience after he visited with RET participants and leaders.
Sparking the imagination of young students is a key to addressing the need for skilled workers, Coker said.
“The entire strategy relies on students being interested,” he said. “Being intrigued. Being curious. Believing that cyber is a career where they can contribute, where they can make a difference. That’s where you come in.”
As he visited with RET participants, Coker learned that the 10 teachers in this summer’s cohort, many with little prior technology experience, began their six-week experience with an intensive week-long training in the basics of cybersecurity. For the next five weeks, they worked in teams with University faculty and students on real-world problems in cybersecurity.
This summer, for example, one team looked for security holes in a “Smart City” network that links together a technologically advanced urban area. They discovered numerous vulnerabilities, including a few that they considered potentially life-threatening.
Another team worked to defend biometric security systems from “spoofing” attacks such as those from people who present fake fingerprints to gain access.
Each of the team members will take that real-world experience back to students in Nevada classrooms, where they’ll begin firing the imagination of future cybersecurity professionals, said , executive director of the Cybersecurity Center. Often, teachers use their RET training to develop hands-on projects for use in science, math, technology and other courses.
During the seven summers RET has been offered, the program has trained 52 teachers, Sengupta said. (Some have returned for more than one session.) The teachers, who receive a $10,000 stipend for their training, have come from schools in eight Nevada counties. About three-quarters of them have been high school teachers, and the rest teach in middle schools.
Importantly, Sengupta said, about 50% of the participating teachers have come from schools where a high number of students experience poverty. Teachers’ training begins to open the doors to good-paying cybersecurity careers for students who otherwise might not consider the possibility.
Coker noted that cybersecurity positions in Nevada include jobs in rural areas as well as big cities. Four-year degrees aren’t always required, and remote work is often a possibility. Even so, he said, some 4,500 cybersecurity positions currently stand vacant in Nevada.
“We can’t fill those jobs unless we train students from all backgrounds,” the White House official said. “We are grateful for UNR’s focus on providing opportunities to underserved communities. You have a lot to show, a lot to be proud of.”
