NSF Award
2320998
This project aims to respond to the urgent need for well-prepared cybersecurity researchers and professionals in the nation by increasing the literacy, accessibility, and adoption of advanced cyberinfrastructure techniques, tools, and platforms in cybersecurity and cyber-related disciplines. The project team develops “T3-CIDERS”, a Train-the-Trainer program, which will train teams of faculty, researchers and graduate students across multiple states, who will subsequently disseminate knowledge and skills on advanced cyberinfrastructure to a broader group of students and researchers within their own institutions and to K-12 audiences, especially those within underrepresented communities. The training program reaches a wider audience through an interactive, open online learning environment, broadening the accessibility of computational and data science across various scientific and engineering disciplines. The T3-CIDERS program facilitates the preparation of current and future cybersecurity and cyber-related researchers, engineers, and practitioners with advanced cyberinfrastructure and data analytic skills, which have become increasingly important for developing secure and resilient digital infrastructure. Given its multi-level educational structure and ubiquitous societal needs for advanced cyberinfrastructure in cybersecurity, this project is expected to have significant and wide-ranging societal impacts, particularly in the areas of workforce development, innovative curriculum, and developing capabilities of supporting diverse and underrepresented groups.<br/><br/>This collaborative project furnishes a unique Train-the-Trainer Approach to Fostering CyberInfrastructure- and Data-Enabled Research in CyberSecurity (T3-CIDERS), a program to train faculty, researchers, and students to develop solid CI competencies through a train-the-trainer program designed to be synergistic with research, teaching, and learning activities. The project develops comprehensive technical cyberinfrastructure (CI)-focused and pedagogical train-the-trainer (T3) modules designed for effective CI education of a broad and diverse range of learners. Leveraging the groundwork laid by the NSF-funded DeapSECURE program, this project will augment the existing DeapSECURE CI modules by developing new fundamental and application-oriented resources tailored for advancing cybersecurity research. A core component in this project is a novel T3 module, designed to cultivate cybersecurity researchers and professionals into skilled trainers, enhancing both their instructional design capabilities and technological aptitudes. This learner-focused approach aspires to foster a community of practice (CoP) and promote CI integration in cybersecurity research and education. Moreover, to extend the project's reach and longevity, an online adaptation, T3-Online, will be developed as an open educational resource to facilitate broadening project outcomes into other domains of science and engineering. The success of the project will drive interest and understanding of CI as essential tools in state-of-the-art cybersecurity research, flatten the student learning curve for CI technology and provide a national leadership in CI training for cybersecurity research.<br/><br/>This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Cybercorps Scholarship for Service, Directorate for STEM Education.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
