MARCH 3, 2023 — The White House Office of the National Cybersecurity Director (ONCD) has partnered with UTSA to accelerate workforce initiatives prioritized by the office. As part of this effort, UTSA recently hosted the Academia Involvement in Community Cybersecurity Conference at the university’s new San Pedro I building in downtown San Antonio.
The goal of the conference was to help institutions of higher education (IHE) and school districts understand how they can impact the nation’s cybersecurity posture and workforce. More than 200 members of government, academia and industries attended the conference.
“Creating the future that we seek — one in which Americans are enriched, empowered and enlivened by connectivity instead of burdened by it — will require contributions by key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. With this in mind, I’m delighted to see that UTSA is hosting an event on the role that academic institutions can play impacting cybersecurity posture and workforce needs,” said Seeyew Mo, assistant national cyber director for ONCD Training and Education.
Conference attendees examined how academia can have a significant impact in their communities and learned how to create a culture of cybersecurity throughout their community. This included all sectors: government, industry, critical infrastructure, academia, non-profit organizations and citizens of all ages.
The UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS), which co-hosted the conference, takes a grassroots-level approach to cybersecurity programs that can advance community and organizational cybersecurity capabilities and collaboration.
“The CIAS has been advocating for whole-community cybersecurity programs for 20 years,” said Gregory White, the center’s director. “We’ve seen first-hand how academic institutions, whether at the high school or collegiate level, are key components to effective cybersecurity programs. Schools are pivotal in developing both a pipeline for cybersecurity professionals and establishing cyber hygiene for students and their families.”
The cybersecurity talent gap continues to be a topic of discussion nationwide. According to cyberseek.org, the United States currently has a workforce shortage of 755,743 cybersecurity professionals.
During the conference, IHEs and school districts from across the nation discussed workforce and cybersecurity initiatives that have positively impacted their communities and shared insights into resources available to academia.
“These collaborations are key to filling cybersecurity jobs and building an economy of resilience from the bottom up and the middle out. I hope that the event motivates leaders from across academia, industry and the public sector to further support or to become cybersecurity champions in their communities,” said Mo.
“We hope the ideas presented will spread across the nation through the NSA/DHS Centers of Academic Excellence network and that new ideas will be spawned,” added White. “Ultimately, this will increase community cybersecurity, which will improve overall security nationwide.”
In addition to Mo and White, conference speakers included DHS/CISA Assistant Director for Stakeholder Engagement Alaina Clark, DHS/CISA Texas State Cybersecurity Coordinator Ernesto Ballesteros, Women in Cybersecurity Executive Director Lynn Dohm, Ron and Cyndi Gula from the Gula Tech Foundation, and the Lead for Academic Engagement for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Davina Pruitt-Mentle, among others.
The conference, which was co-hosted by the CIAS and the UTSA Cyber Center for Security and Analytics, is also supported by the university’s National Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.
UTSA has long been recognized as a leader in cybersecurity. It is one of just a few universities in the nation—and the only Hispanic Serving Institution—to hold three National Center of Excellence designations from the National Security Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It is also home to the only School of Data Science in the state of Texas.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Graduate school fair for current undergraduates and anyone in the community that has their bachelor's degree and is interested in learning about UTSA's graduate programs.
Retama Galleria (SU 02.02.02,) Student Union, Main CampusUTS Bold Careers hosts Student Technology Council where students have the opportunity to share feedback about technology needs to the UTS Leadership. The Leadership will also provide updates as to the technolgy projects for the campus.
Mesquite Room (SU 2.01.24,) Student Union, Main CampusJoin us for a hands-on workshop about the basics of copyright, both in education and as a researcher. We’ll dispel some common copyright myths, differences between copyright law and other intellectual property law, and teach you how to apply a Fair Use checklist to your scholarly work.
Virtual Event (Zoom)In this workshop, we will explore sentiment analysis, a method for identifying feelings in text, whether the tone is positive, negative, or neutral.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryLearn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual Event ( Zoom)The Urban Bird Project at UTSA will discuss urban bird populations, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved.
JPL Assembly Room (4.04.22,) Main CampusThe DMPTool is a free online resource that helps researchers create data management plans. This workshop will cover the main components of DMPs and how to create them using the DMPTool. Attendees will learn to: locate templates by funding agency, add research collaborators, and identify institutional guidance.
Virtual Event (Zoom)The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
