Clark State Community 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.
Students Shaun Foor, Bill Johnson, Keith Carrier and Alex Fryman made up the Clark State team nominated for the award by Riverside Research, an independent, non-profit organization and leading advisor in cybersecurity solutions. Dan Heighton, professor in Computer Networking and CyberSecurity, led the team.
“Clark State students can compete at the highest level,” said Clark State President Dr. Jo Alice Blondin. “This recognition is proof of their talent and the quality of our CyberSecurity program.”
Riverside Research collaborated with Clark State to complement their summer 2014 CyberSecurity Internship and Externship Program. The supplemental cyber education program, C-IGNITE (Cyber – Institutions Growing National Intellectual Talent and Experience), combined national, state, local and industry resources to create an enhanced educational experience.
Clark State team member Shaun Foor explained that the purpose of the project was to create a virtual test bed environment within a VirtualBox system that can be used by industry researchers to test the security of our nation’s SCADA systems.
“The C-IGNITE students that worked with our Cyber Center of Excellence were great students and their work on SCADA systems was excellent,” said Dr. Deanne W. Otto, division manager - Outreach, Education and Training, Engineering and Support Solutions Directorate for Riverside Research. “This is great recognition for the community.”
Cathryn Balas, co-principal investigator for a Clark State grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) for cybersecurity, said the award affirms that community college students can make important contributions to the vital field of cybersecurity. “We are very grateful to Technology First for recognizing the talent and dedication of the Clark State students who worked on the Riverside Research team,” she said. “The NSF grant has been instrumental to help Clark State develop its cybersecurity program for its students, so we are pleased that the award recognizes the importance of this NSF investment.”
Technology First is an industry-led trade association striving to develop the Dayton region into a well-connected information technology community.