Pace Trains Future Experts to Fight Hackers at First Cybersecurity Camp
The importance of protecting information and data in a world so dependent on technology only promises to become more critical.
Pace University is taking the lead in preparing the next generation to protect the world from hackers and intruders.
Pace is hosting its first student cybersecurity camp where about 30 high school students mainly from the tristate area are completing a one-week introduction to cybersecurity concepts. They built cyber-spybots that were submerged on Thursday morning in the university’s pond in an intelligence gathering exercise, said Professor Pauline Mosley of Pace’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems who led the program.
Mosley said the main goal of the camp, part of the national GenCyber program funded by a National Security Agency grant, is to encourage high school students to consider a career in cybersecurity, a field that currently has inadequate manpower in the United States to fight terrorists and hackers from stealing financial information.
“It’s a fantastic career path for students studying computer science,” Mosley said. “Even if they don’t choose to go into computer science, they still need to know about the importance of data and information. We’re in a technological world, so even if they become a nurse, security is very, very important. We need to be able to teach that to students, the reality of the importance of cybersecurity because it will be very, very valuable.”
The student camp followed last week’s program for teachers that attracted 25 high school educators from 10 states, the second year the university has offered the program to instructors. They return to their schools and incorporate the lessons into their curriculum, said Professor Li-Chiou Chen, Pace University’s Informational Technology chair.
Chen said about two-thirds of the teachers were computer science and math teachers with the remainder from various disciplines.
Pace is also one of the few schools in the region to offer cybersecurity as a concentration in its computer and information technology studies, she said.
“The GenCyber summer programs aim to train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals by preparing our educators and by getting young students interested in the cybersecurity area, which is one of the strengths of the Seidenberg School at Pace University,” Chen said.
Students who participated in the program said they registered because they enjoy working with technology and would consider a career in cybersecurity.
Fakaran Floyd, who is entering his senior year at Mount Vernon High school, said he learned of the program through his participation in the App Development Bowl at Pace last winter.
Working with his peers from throughout the Hudson Valley was a great experience, he said.
“I thought we would learn only about cybersecurity but to build robots that’s a great aspect of it,” Floyd said. “Also, I didn’t know about deciphering but I think I learned a lot.”
Alexander Rodriguez, who will be a senior this fall at an Albany area high school, said he discovered the program while searching for colleges.
“Cybersecurity programs are pretty hard to find so when I saw this I thought it was great and I wanted to be part of it,” Rodriguez said.
Mosely mentioned that interaction and teamwork is an essential component of cybersecurity education, which the program stresses.
“All the students have a role,” she said. “Everybody has to work together to protect the data.”
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