Del Mar College Cyber Center cybersecurity internship initiative announced after landing $200K grant from U.S. Commerce Department’s NIST

Article by: Richard Guerrero, Jr.

Del Mar College (DMC) is the only awardee in Texas that landed a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this year. College administrators with the Workforce Development and Corporate Services Department, along with Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend, announced on Oct. 30 details about the $200,000 NIST grant that was awarded earlier in October.

Overall, 15 grants totaling $3 million were awarded among 11 states.

Darcy Shaw, DMC Cyber Center Program Manager, says, “The NIST grant is creating partnerships to promote cybersecurity education and workforce development because cybersecurity professionals are attaining their education, but they are not getting hired. There’s a very large need for cybersecurity professionals not just throughout the country but in our area and across Texas.”

The funds the College received will support NIST’s Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate (RAMPS) initiative in South Texas. NIST seeks to build multistakeholder workforce partnerships among employers, schools and higher education institutions, and other community organizations through its Cybersecurity Education and Workforce Development Program through the funding awarding as part of the RAMPS initiative.

The two key objectives of the DMC Cyber Center are:

·      Increase cybersecurity planning, awareness, and compliance

·      Add skills to cybersecurity students

To that end, the DMC Cyber Center RAMPS initiative will utilize paid cybersecurity interns (students from DMC and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) to provide planning and training for business owners in the Coastal Bend starting in January. Small and mid-sized businesses are typically more vulnerable to cyber threats due to fewer resources, Shaw says.

Shaw notes that the Cyber Center will host clinics for small and mid-sized businesses that utilize undergraduate students from the DMC Department of Computer Science, along with undergraduate and graduate students with TAMU-CC’s Computer Science and Networking and Information Security programs with the College of Engineering and Computer Science, to provide the following services:

·      Network mapping

·      Review and guidance with system security plans and recovery plans

·      Basic cyber hygiene awareness

The College’s Cyber Center will manage South Texas’ initiative, which includes partnerships with Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend, the Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center, QuickStart Business Services, DMC academic programs as well as TAMU-CC. Additionally, partnership also includes the City of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi B Corporation (Type B Board).

Recently, the Corpus Christi City Council approved a $140,000 grant that also provides funding support for the Cyber Center.

Ken Treviño, Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend CEO, says Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend is honored to partner with Del Mar College Cyber Center to open new doors for individuals pursuing cybersecurity careers.

“By expanding access to critical training and connecting businesses with skilled professionals, we’re advancing workforce development across the Coastal Bend and supporting the security needs of industries vital to our region,” Treviño says.

The DMC Cyber Center RAMPS initiative will allow the Cyber Center to serve Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Refugio, and San Patricio counties.

Employees looking to expand their skills set will also have the opportunity to pursue “Grow Your Own” cybersecurity education and certification opportunities through the College’s Cisco Certification occupational track paid for by Skills for Small Business grant funds provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.