University-Based Cybersecurity Clinics: Educating the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Leaders While Safeguarding Small Businesses

Colleges and universities have long been a valuable resource for small businesses in their communities. Examples of support and outreach include running start-up incubators and accelerators, hosting small business development centers, providing a source of interns and entry-level workforce members, hosting legal and medical clinics, and much more. Recently, higher education, with support from industry and government, has been addressing two critical questions in cybersecurity through an emerging network of cybersecurity clinics: 

• How can we bolster the cybersecurity posture of small, under-resourced organizations in our community?
• How can we build a stronger cybersecurity workforce by providing students with valuable, hands-on learning experiences?

Through the clinics, multidisciplinary teams of students work with faculty providing no-cost  cybersecurity services to the region’s small, under-resourced organizations—providing valuable workforce development experiences to students and important cybersecurity support to those organizations who need it the most. 

This webinar will provide an overview of cybersecurity clinics, while also highlighting experiences of students and small businesses who have participated in the program. The panel discussion will run for 45 minutes, with 15 minutes reserved at the end of the hour for questions. 

Opening Remarks: 

• Rodney Petersen, Director, National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), NIST

Panelists: 

• Mehdi Abid, Cyber Program Coordinator, Department of Computer Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Aisha Ali-Gombe, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director, LSU Cybersecurity Clinic, Louisiana State University
• Gary Anderson, Partner, Cardinal Capital, LLC
• Keith Daniel Tan, Scholarship for Service(SFS) Student, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Moderator: 

• Daniel Eliot, Lead for Small Business Engagement, NIST