{"662293":{"#nid":"662293","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GTRI Helps Bring Cybersecurity Training to More Georgia High Schools ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAmid the growing risk of cyber threats, there is a crucial need to provide the next generation of leaders with the skills to address these challenges. The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has played a key role in this effort by bringing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cyberstartamerica.org\/\u0022\u003ECyberStart America\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026ndash; a free online cybersecurity competition that helps high school students discover their talent in cybersecurity \u0026ndash; to more Georgia schools.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGTRI recently teamed up with the University of North Georgia, the Georgia Cyber Center and the Georgia Department of Education to promote CyberStart within the state.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the latest cycle of CyberStart that ran from October 2021 to April 2022, Georgia led the nation in participants, with 6,383 students from 274 Georgia high schools competing. That represents a whopping 564% increase in Georgia student participation compared to the previous cycle. A total of 45,962 students competed nationwide.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECyberStart is an online game designed to help students learn about cyber topics as they complete fun puzzles and challenges. The game allows students to take on the role of cyber protection agents as they solve cybersecurity-related puzzles and gain exposure to code breaking, programming, networking and digital forensics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents can play the games at their own pace and all students in grades 9-12 are able to participate. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to building their cyber skills, students also have the opportunity to compete for scholarships and cash prizes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe CyberStart America in Georgia taskforce gave out $102,497 in cash prizes to top performing students, schools and districts during the 2021-2022 competition season.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;There\u0026#39;s a real need for talented cybersecurity professionals in Georgia,\u0026quot; said Tyler Kinner, a GTRI research scientist who is a part of the CyberStart America in Georgia taskforce. \u0026quot;Not only will this program help address the future cyber workforce shortage, but it will also help students become savvier in terms of how they interact with technology.\u0026quot; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are over 75 cybersecurity companies in Georgia that generate an estimated $2.6 billion annually, according to recent \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.georgia.org\/industries\/technology\/cybersecurity\u0022\u003Eestimates\u003C\/a\u003E. Georgia ranked in the top seven states for cybersecurity growth potential by Business Facilities Magazine in 2021.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, there \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ung.edu\/cyber-operations\/cyberstart-georgia.php\u0022\u003Eare\u003C\/a\u003E 700,000 cyber job openings nationally, with about 25,000 of those in Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGTRI led the development of a standards matrix to communicate the alignment between CyberStart and the Georgia Department of Education\u0026#39;s curriculum requirements for Georgia high school students. Since its first use during the 2021-2022 school year, other states\u0026rsquo; CyberStart America working groups have followed in developing their own standards-based matrix for this year\u0026rsquo;s competition season.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;We went through CyberStart to document what knowledge and skills students were learning, and used this to develop a matrix where we demonstrated the alignment between CyberStart and the course standards for Georgia\u0026rsquo;s cybersecurity pathway courses,\u0026rdquo; Kinner explained. \u0026quot;That way, we could communicate to teachers and leaders, \u0026#39;Here\u0026#39;s this acclaimed international platform, and here\u0026rsquo;s how it aligns to our state\u0026#39;s standards.\u0026#39;\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKinner noted that the gamified format of CyberStart has helped spur record participation in the program, and he is optimistic that the Georgia participation numbers for the 2022-2023 academic year will be even higher than last year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;I think CyberStart has hit a sweet spot in terms of figuring out how to engage high school students with a format that is both educational and entertaining,\u0026quot; Kinner said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Anna Akins\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nPhoto Credit: University of North Georgia\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGTRI Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAtlanta, Georgia USA\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).\u202fFounded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,800 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $700 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry.\u202fGTRI\u0026#39;s renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has played a key role in this effort by bringing CyberStart America \u2013 a free online cybersecurity competition that helps high school students discover their talent in cybersecurity \u2013 to more Georgia schools."}],"uid":"35832","created_gmt":"2022-10-19 00:02:17","changed_gmt":"2022-10-19 00:02:17","author":"Michelle Gowdy","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"662292":{"id":"662292","type":"image","title":"2022 CyberStart Amercia High School Student Participants","body":null,"created":"1666137586","gmt_created":"2022-10-18 23:59:46","changed":"1666137586","gmt_changed":"2022-10-18 23:59:46","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250829","name":"220521-mccb-cyber-awards-0853 (2)_0.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/220521-mccb-cyber-awards-0853%20%282%29_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/220521-mccb-cyber-awards-0853%20%282%29_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":556964,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/220521-mccb-cyber-awards-0853%20%282%29_0.JPG?itok=eYeQOCi6"}}},"media_ids":["662292"],"groups":[{"id":"1276","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[{"id":"416","name":"GTRI"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"166902","name":"science and technology"},{"id":"1564","name":"community"},{"id":"1432","name":"education"},{"id":"1404","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"191469","name":"CyberStart America"},{"id":"189447","name":"developing future technology leaders"},{"id":"191470","name":"University of North Georgia"},{"id":"2029","name":"Competition"},{"id":"191471","name":"Georgia Cyber Center"},{"id":"96461","name":"Georgia Department of Education"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E(Interim) Director of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMichelle Gowdy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMichelle.Gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E404-407-8060\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michelle.gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}