Cloudy with snow developing late. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%..
Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 21F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 50%.
Updated: January 30, 2023 @ 10:59 am
INDIANA — Thanks to an eighth year of funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency, Indiana University of Pennsylvania will offer a free, one-week GenCyber cybersecurity camp for middle and high school students.
The camp will take place in person June 12-16 at the IUP campus from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
The program will also have two online pre-camp activity days on March 25 and April 29, and two online post-camp activity days on Sept. 10 and Oct. 1.
IUP is the only school in Pennsylvania offering GenCyber student programs.
The project director is Dr. Waleed Farag, director of IUP’s Institute for Cybersecurity and professor of computer science.
The camp will be taught by a team of faculty with established expertise in cybersecurity teaching and research. It will provide a uniformly distributed, engaging blend of delivery that includes direct instruction, group activities, structured discovery, and hands-on, laboratory and informal instructional techniques to both individual and combined cohorts.
Upon completion of the camp, participants will have a strong understanding of cybersecurity in addition to mastering basic skills that help them be safer online; students in the camp will receive an electronic kit to take home. Lunch and a snack will be provided as part of the program.
To apply, students must be entering seventh grade or higher in fall 2023. Space is limited, so interested participants should apply as soon as possible.
Information about the camp and application forms are available at www.iup.edu/iupgencyber.
According to national experts, jobs in cybersecurity have grown 91 percent nationally, and the demand for cybersecurity workers is expected to rise to 6 million globally.
For more information, people may email gen-cyber@iup.edu.
For the past 20 years, IUP has been recognized as a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) from the National Security Agency, one of only 16 universities in Pennsylvania to hold this designation. IUP is one of the first universities in the nation to integrate the disciplines of criminology and computer science to support an academic program in cybersecurity.
In the last six years, IUP’s Institute for Cybersecurity has secured more than $15 million in federal funding for IUP sponsored initiatives and programs, including more than $1 million in federal funding for IUP to enhance cybersecurity training for middle school students and teachers through the GenCyber program. More than 450 middle school students and teachers have completed GenCyber camps since 2016.
Over the last five years, Dr. Farag has secured more than $2 million through a Department of Defense program that has provided 37 full scholarships to students in IUP’s cybersecurity major. Part of the scholarship opportunity is a guaranteed position with the Department of Defense after graduation.
In fall 2022, Dr. Farag secured the largest grant in IUP history, $11 million, to enhance cybersecurity education across Pennsylvania.
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