September 23, 2022
The Department of Computer Information Technology and Graphics at Purdue Northwest (PNW) received funding from the National Security Agency (NSA) to host a GenCyber camp for teachers in July. Teacher camps focus on education about cybersecurity concepts, cover a variety of topics, and use a variety of software and hardware technologies to help them learn and make the experience fun.
The program includes an in-depth study of Python programming and coding vulnerabilities and cryptography through software; hacking tools and forensics; programming with a Raspberry Pi and as an IoT device; teaching C coding and robot control and gaming with Sparki Robotics; and cybersecurity against various vulnerabilities method. At the end of the week, teachers presented lesson plans developed to demonstrate their learning.
Talking about the importance of introducing cybersecurity and cybersecurity at the primary and secondary school and teaching level, George Stefanek, Associate Professor of Computer Information Technology, pointed to the current technological environment as one of the factors affecting camp production.
“As our world becomes more interconnected through an infrastructure of computers, networks, the Internet and cloud services, the personal and business tasks we perform will increasingly require the use of this infrastructure,” Stefanek said. “Disruption to this infrastructure could have a significant impact on our business and personal day-to-day activities.”
PNW has created online tools and resources for teaching cybersecurity to help middle and high school teachers integrate cybersecurity topics into their school curriculum. The development of these resources was led by Michael Tu, professor of computer information technology and director of the Center for Cyber Security.
PNW now offers a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, designed to educate students with the technical competencies, knowledge, and skills needed to protect networks, systems, software programs, and data from criminal or unauthorized access.