Cybersecurity Education in CCs Gets ED Boost

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/02/18
businessman pressing on virtual screen, selecting security icon

To help community colleges make technology upgrades that will help them deliver cybersecurity education, the U.S. Department of Education has been allotted $1 million in an omnibus spending law, H.R. 1625, approved by Congress earlier this year. According to an explanatory document that accompanied the spending bill, the money is to be spent on a pilot grant program to help the schools make their programs "state of the art."

In an application posted this week, ED said it would provide 10 two-year awards of between $25,000 and $100,000 each to the grantees. There was just a single priority referenced in the application: that applicants collaborate with one of the three Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program centers in the country in making their improvements.

The ATE program, supported by the National Science Foundation, is coordinated out of three community colleges to support the improvement of cybersecurity education in both higher education and high schools. Those centers are the National CyberWatch Center at Prince George's Community College in Maryland; the CyberWatch West Center at Whatcom Community College in Washington; and the Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance at Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois. In turn, the centers coordinate a network of affiliated institutions, including hundreds of community colleges.

While the applicants don't need to have an existing relationship with one of the ATE programs, they must get buy-in (in the form of a signed statement) that a given center will help them in their technology upgrades.

The deadline for applications is Aug. 29, 2018. For more information, visit the application information page on the Federal Register.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • illustration of a futuristic building labeled "AI & Innovation," featuring circuit board patterns and an AI brain motif, surrounded by geometric trees and a simplified sky

    Cal Poly Pomona Launches AI and Innovation Center

    In an effort to advance AI innovation, foster community engagement, and prepare students for careers in STEM fields and business, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona has teamed up with AI, cloud, and advisory services provider Avanade to launch a new Avanade AI & Innovation Center.

  • black graduation cap with a glowing blue AI brain circuit symbol on top

    Report: AI Is a Must for Modern Learners

    A new report from VitalSource identifies a growing demand among learners for AI tools, declaring that "AI isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must."

  • glowing shield hovers above a digital cloud platform with abstract data streams and cloud icons in the background

    Google to Acquire Cloud Security Firm Wiz

    Google has announced it will acquire cloud security startup Wiz. If completed, the acquisition — an all-cash deal valued at $32 billion — would mark the largest in Google's history.

  • digital dashboard featuring a shield icon, graphs, a world map, and network nodes

    IBM Introduces Agentic AI Governance and Security Platform

    IBM has launched a new software stack for enterprise IT teams tasked with managing the complex governance and security challenges posed by autonomous AI systems.