• Prince George’s Community College

Largo, MD

CyberWatch increases the quantity and quality of the information assurance (IA) workforce by:

• Developing IA curricula with degree and certificate programs, model courses, articulation agreements, and career pathways.
• Providing faculty professional development with CyberWatch workshops and graduate school tuition subsidies.
• Mentoring faculty as they map courses to national training standards.
• Developing the IA skills of students at all levels with competitions, internships, job fairs, student clubs, and after-school and summer-school programs.
• Promoting public cybersecurity awareness of cyber ethics, safety, and security.

CyberWatch Workforce Development Encompasses Elementary Through Graduate School Programs

CyberWatch improves the IA workforce with activities for students from kindergarten through graduate school and professional development for faculty. Students enrolled in IA programs at CyberWatch’s 54 member institutions gain direct access to the cybersecurity workforce through CyberWatch’s strong connections to the National Security Agency (NSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), industry associations, and private cybersecurity enterprises.

CyberWatch Leads Multidiscipline Efforts At 2-Year Colleges

Working with NSA, DHS, and the National Science Foundation, CyberWatch played a key role in developing and implementing the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance 2-Year Education program known as CAE2Y. CyberWatch mentors all aspiring CAE2Y community colleges, helping them refine and document their IA programs to meet the stringent requirements for CAE2Y established by the NSA.

CyberWatch Branches Out to Develop IA Workforce

Since its inception in 2005 as a consortium of 10 educational institutions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, CyberWatch has

• Grown to 54 member institutions—36 community colleges and 18 universities—across 21 states plus the District of Columbia.
• Acquired more than 30 partners among businesses, government agencies, and professional associations.
• Developed model IA curricula, including complete courses for associate in applied science and associate in science degrees and for 2 IA certificates.
• Assisted both 2-year and 4-year educational institutions in mapping their IA courses to the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) 4011 and/or 4013 national IA training standards.
• Mentored the 6 community colleges eligible to apply to NSA for the CAE2Y designation through the application process; all 6 CAE2Y applications were approved in 2010.
• Educated more than 450 faculty through CyberWatch workshops and sponsored courses at member institutions.
• Created a robust IA program for K-12 students, including a new IA curriculum track for high schools, summer camps, after-school programs, security awareness days, student contests, and workshops for counselors.
• Built the Montgomery College Virtual Lab, the University of Maryland Digital Forensics Lab, and the Bowie State University CyberWatch Underground Tunnel System. CyberWatch’s Virtual Lab 2.0 is now in the preliminary design stage.