National Science Foundation Education Zone Grant
Archive NSF News and Events
National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Principal Investigators (PI) Conference | October 22, 2015
Dan Heighton and Cathy Balas attended the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Principal Investigators (PI) conference in Washington D.C. October 22-25, 2015. Cathy was a panelist for the American Association of Community Colleges MentorLinks program on Oct. 22, sharing insights with representatives from community colleges interested in applying for NSF funding in the future. Balas and Heighton attribute much of their success with obtaining NSF support for the Clark State Cyber-Pro program to the networking and assistance they obtained from their participation in MentorLinks in 2008.
“One of the things that the NSF Advanced Technological Education provides for Clark State is a nationwide network of other community colleges working on similar programs to advance the progress of students in emerging and expanding technical career fields,” Balas explained. MentorLinks helped us find our way and increased our understanding to the importance of expanding horizons for community college students.
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Clark State Students Selected for National Science Foundation Conference in Washington, D.C. | October 12, 2015
Clark State College students Kevin Gardner and Anthony Adams will represent Clark State at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Principal Investigators conference in Washington, D.C., October 22-24, 2015.
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Information Security and Certification Experts | August 25, 2015
Thanks go out to Clark State adjunct professor Chris Straka who invited the 2015 summer interns to present their team project results to the Dayton Chapter of Information Security and Certification Experts, ISC2. The interns discussed their findings with 20 information security professionals who gained insight into the security vulnerabilities of SCADA systems, traffic lights, drones and Very Small Aperture Terminals (V-SATs), used for satellite communications. The students enjoyed the evening of sharing their expertise, answering many questions posed by the security professionals and discussing possible solutions to security threats.
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Clark State Holds Summer Cybersecurity Intern Showcase | August 4, 2015
Clark State College will hold a Summer Cybersecurity Intern Showcase from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Wednesday, August 5 at the Clark State Greene Center Campus. Eleven Clark State students engaged in research and hands-on cybersecurity work projects and a three-day "Hack Fest" where they gained first-hand experience defending systems against hackers.
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2015 Summer Internships
Clark State summer interns and externs are joined by the University of Dayton Research Institute Minority Analyst Program interns during a visit to the Springfield Air Guard Base. One of the projects for the summer is to study the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs). The interns visited the Guard Base to see a VSAT system in person and learn how it is used to help communities in emergencies such as tornado or other disaster situations.
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Clark State Student IT Team Wins Technology First Leadership Award | May 15, 2015
Clark State College was awarded the Emerging Tech Team Award from Technology First at a ceremony held May 14 at the University of Dayton Flight Deck. The award recognizes the Clark State student IT team for exhibiting excellence while delivering a capstone project.
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Summer 2014 Clark State Cybersecurity Intern/Extern Program
Interns Fenton Harrison, Shaun Foor, Alex Fryman, Troy Raines, Audrey McDaniel, William (Bill) Johnson, Keith Carrier and Samuel Coons pose for a team picture. These interns were part of the Summer 2014 Clark State Cybersecurity Intern/Extern program. They were divided up into three teams and conducted research for AT&T Government Solutions, Riverside Research and LexisNexus/Reed Elsiver. The program was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and funded through the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant.
"The goal of this program is to expose our students to the growing field of cyber security and challenge them with practical projects that have been identified by professionals in the community," said Dale Rude, Clark State adjunct and internship coordinator. "A secondary goal is to establish externships for our faculty to enhance their knowledge by exposing them to real-world challenges that companies are facing. This learning will be brought back into the classroom to advance the program and make our students even more marketable."
Clark State faculty members who are participating in the externship include Dan Heighton (Principal), Greg Teets, Ronda Black, Jerome Murray and adjuncts Cathy Balas (Co-Principal) and Dale Rude.
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Avetec Means Interns! | May 27 to August 9, 2013
Nine Clark State College and Central State University students worked at Avetec for the summer of 2013. Their projects focused on cybersecurity for three technical areas: High Performance Computing, Unmanned Aerial Systems, and the electric power SMART grid. In addition, students from UDRI (University of Dayton Research Institute) and one from Wittenberg joined the team focusing on modeling of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle flights, Additive Manufacturing, and Communications.
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Internship Showcase | August 6, 2013
An intern showcase on August 6, 2013, highlighted the research that each team had done throughout the summer. Each intern team presented its results and fielded questions about their research. The audience included Ohio Senator Chris Widener, Ohio Representative Robert Hackett, Clark State President Jo Blondin, WPAFB representatives, many other college and business people, and nine former Avetec interns who are now employed in the community.
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Hackfest 2013 | August 7-8, 2013
The cybersecurity interns were involved in a competition held at AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology) called Hackfest. Here the teams were able to test their ability in applying the skills they learned in Hacking computers. The competition between two teams were to see who could Hack into the computer faster than the other.
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Team Bonding | May 27 to August 9, 2013
Team building exercises were aimed at improving communication and decision-making techniques and helped the interns develop skills to relate to management requirements: quality, safety, and creative problem-solving.
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Gaining tools for the future | June 6, 2013
The interns were trained and received certificates for Palantir, an advanced analytics platform for tracking and analyzing large data sets. Each intern learned the basics of the program and the ways in which they could use the program for collaborative projects. One intern, Trevor Ferryman, and Clark State faculty member Dan Heighton, were also certified as Palantir trainers during the summer program.
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Interns learned from guest speakers and field trips | Summer 2013
Avetec had many guests this summer who shared their knowledge and expertise with the interns. There were a wide range of people who stopped in, including: 3 people from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the ingoing and outgoing Presidents of Clark State College, as well as representatives from the FBI. They also were able to visit WPAFB Defense Shared Super-Computing Center, Lexis Nexis, and the University of Indiana's Super Computing Center (pictured above). The interns got to see a peek inside of future career opportunities that they may not have even thought of as options before. Every guest was open to answering questions and giving the interns the story about where they started off and what it took for them to get where they are now.
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Cyber Security Internship Wraps-up with Hackfest | August 8-9, 2012
Clark State College President Dr. Karen Rafinski, Central State University Vice-President Dr. Willie Houston, and other community leaders viewed the interns demonstrating their ability to protect computer systems from hacking attacks.
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Avetec/Clark State NSF Interns Visit Cyrus One Data Center | July 20, 2012
Avetec/Clark State NSF interns, along with Avetec’s Chief Technology Officer Jeff Dalton and Executive Director of Education/Workforce Development Cathy S. Balas, visited the Cyrus One Data Center located in Lebanon, Ohio. Ryan Boots, Cyrus One Business Development Manager, shared information with the interns about the growth of the data center industry and the technical specifications which meet the power, cooling, and connectivity needs of businesses locating at Cyrus One data centers. The students also gained business insight into a rapidly growing career field which will require cybersecurity skills for the high performance computing environment in major data center operations.
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Faculty Externship/Student Internship at PNNL | July 19, 2012
A “hands on” experience means getting to work directly on a large cluster of high performance computers for Clark State Professor Dan Heighton and Avetec intern Ben Schneider at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL). One goal of the faculty externship/student internship team approach is to allow faculty to identify new ideas to use in their classroom teaching. Professor Heighton comments, “I really get to see the latest in industry and government requirements so that I can help prepare my students to be effective in those environments.”
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Avetec and Wittenberg Partner for NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship | June 28, 2012
Avetec's partnership with Wittenberg University for the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program has provided Wittenberg student Kimberly Lykens an internship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories this summer. Kimberly's research project focuses on purification and characterization of microbial proteins important in metal redox transformation. She is also working to develop methods to incorporate scientific research into the K-12 classroom as a part of her project to help excite and prepare the next generation of scientists.
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Wittenberg University Discusses Cybersecurity Research with Avetec Interns | June 12, 2012
Dr. Elma Lee Moore, Dean of the School of Community Education at Wittenberg University, met with the Avetec interns to discuss their cybersecurity research and brainstorm issues that end users want to know about cybersecurity.
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Avetec Interns Using Palantir | June 11, 2012
Avetec interns are using Palantir, an advanced analytics platform, for tracking and analyzing cyber-attacks and cyber-defenses as part of their work on a National Science Foundation/Pacific Northwest National Laboratories research project and Air Force Institute of Technology Cybersecurity Boot Camp.
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Cybersecurity Internships at Avetec | June 4, 2012
Cybersecurity internships are underway at Avetec. The program, which includes virtual participation in the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Cybersecurity boot camp and a High Performance Computing (HPC) cybersecurity research project with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), runs from June 4 through August 10, 2012.
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Cybersecurity Intern/Extern Project
Cathy Balas, Avetec Executive Director, Education/Workforce Development, Clark State Professor Dan Heighton, Clark State intern Ben Schneider, Central State intern Devon Love, and Wittenberg intern Courtnay Dollinger began work for the Cybersecurity intern/extern project in May, preparing materials and equipment and setting-up Palantir software plans for the project which begins June 4, 2012.
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National Science Foundation-funded internship program
In the Spring of 2011, a film crew for Boston public television station WGBH-TV profiled Kristen Edwards, one of Avetec’s second-year interns participating in the National Science Foundation-funded internship program. Edwards is attending Clark State cyber security classes and double majoring in math and computer science at Central State.
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2012 Summer Internship opportunities | Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Clark State and Avetec host an informational session for 2012 Summer Internship opportunities. This publication is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number DUE-1204553 to Clark State Community College. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.