UA Little Rock awarded grant for cybersecurity program aimed at students

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has been awarded a $561,000 grant from the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) program at the National Security Agency to spearhead a coalition of institutions who will offer an innovative summer program for junior high and high school students who want to learn the latest skills in cybersecurity.

Dr. Sandra Leiterman, cybersecurity research education professor, and Dr. Philip Huff, associate professor of cybersecurity, are serving as co-principal investigators on the grant that will fund GenCyber summer programs for about 225 students in Arkansas, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

The initiative aims to provide hands-on training and promote education and career pathways in cybersecurity, equipping the next generation with vital skills to address growing digital security challenges.

UA Little Rock’s Arkansas GenCyber Strength Training Program will be held for two weeks during summer 2025. Rebecca Passmore, assistant professor of cybersecurity, will serve as the camp’s lead instructor. The camp is open to any rising students in grades 7-12 and will be offered at no cost to students and their families.

In Arkansas, the Forge Institute, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana will also be offering the Arkansas GenCyber Strength Training Program for up to 25 students each.

“One of the benefits of the coalition model is that the partner institutions get to share resources, ideas, and provide additional options,” Leiterman said. “UA Little Rock is providing a virtual option for students who can’t travel to a camp in person. The Forge Institute is offering an advanced program for students who already have some cybersecurity knowledge, and the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana will offer a bilingual program in English and Spanish.”

Outside of Arkansas, the grant will also fund two residential summer programs for up to 25 students at both the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Wisconsin-White River.

This program focuses on the GenCyber Cybersecurity Concepts: Defense in Depth, Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Think Like an Adversary, and Keep it Simple. Participants will hear from industry experts about education and career opportunities and will learn about cybersecurity with state-of-the art, hands-on activities that allows the students to experience cyberattacks from both the victim and adversary side.

“We recently met a student applying for a research position on campus, and he met us through one of the previous two GenCyber camps we’ve held on campus,” Huff said. “Attending a GenCyber program sparks a student’s interest as they make decisions on career and education pathways. Programs like this are crucial for staying connected with middle and high school students during a pivotal time when many lose interest in STEM fields.”

In addition to the summer programs, UA Little Rock will conduct a series of outreach activities during the fall 2024 and fall 2025 semesters. They will provide cybersecurity awareness workshops for students, teachers, and parents across Arkansas and provide online cybersecurity challenges and puzzle competitions for GenCyber participants.

After the summer programs are finished, UA Little Rock will host GenCyber alumni events featuring workshops, guest speakers, and networking opportunities as well as a mentoring program that will pair GenCyber alum with cybersecurity professionals and UA Little Rock students. They will also partner with the Arkansas Department of Education to develop GenCyber-inspired resources for K-12 classrooms in Arkansas.