Tony Coulson, the executive director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Cybersecurity Center, and lead for the newly designated Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) National Center for Cybersecurity Education, will be in a panel session at the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) 2020 Conference and Expo virtual series set to be held in October and November.

The NICE conference, held virtually over a four-week period one day a week, will bring together leaders from industry, government, academia and nonprofit organizations to explore issues in cybersecurity education and workforce development. The conference sessions are Oct. 27, Nov. 5, 9 and Nov. 16. The conference will hold workshops on Oct. 29, Nov. 6, 12 and 17. 

Coulson, a CSUSB professor of information and decision sciences, will be a panelist on the topic “Creating the Next Generation Cybersecurity Workforce” at the conference session on Nov. 16. Coulson will be joined by Chris Inglis, a former NSA deputy director currently serving as the Looker Distinguished Visiting Professor of Cyber Studies at the United States Naval Academy and as a commissioner with the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The session will be moderated by Norma M. Krayem, a recognized expert in the field of cybersecurity and data privacy, who serves as vice president at Van Scoyoc Associates, based in Washington, D.C., and as chair of VSA’s Cybersecurity, Privacy & Digital Innovation Practice Group.

Under Coulson’s leadership, the CSUSB Cybersecurity Center was named the Community National Center for Cybersecurity Education by the National Security Agency, which selected the center for a $10.5 million grant and the university to be a leader of the agency’s core workforce development initiative, the CAE in Cybersecurity Community.

In its designation as a national center, the CSUSB Cybersecurity Center will establish and manage three Centers of Academic Excellence-C Communities of Practice, coordinate cutting-edge research, establish and support five regional hubs around the country, and support cybersecurity education nationally.

The center, from 2010-2020, has brought in over $28 million worth of grant sponsored programs from entities that include NICE, the NSA, DoD, the National Cybersecurity Training and Education (NCyTE) Center, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through the grant sponsored activities of the center, students can compete for scholarships, participate in national conferences, and research emerging cybersecurity issues. 

For more information on the conference, visit the NICE 2020 Conference and Expo virtual conference website.

For more information on the CSUSB Cybersecurity Center, visit its website.