| NSF Org: |
DGE Division Of Graduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 31, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 13, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1723596 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Nigamanth Sridhar
DGE Division Of Graduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $499,995.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $499,995.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2700 BAY AREA BLVD # M105 HOUSTON TX US 77058-1002 (281)283-3016 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2700 Bay Area Boulevard, Box 40 Houston TX US 77058-1002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | CYBERCORPS: SCHLAR FOR SER |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
There is a growing national need for strengthening cybersecurity education efforts so that the workforce is ready to defend against current and future cyber threats. Colleges and universities need to increasingly produce well-rounded computing professionals that are aware and capable of mitigating cyber threats. The goal of the project from the University of Houston - Clear Lake (UHCL), is to develop a feasible approach to revamp traditional computer science degree programs. The broader impact of the proposed work includes: i) a tested approach for modernizing the nation's traditional computer science degree programs to incorporate cyber threats awareness and cybersecurity knowledge and skills; ii) faculty and curricular development in cybersecurity; iii) updated labs and course materials for other small colleges and universities to adopt when revamping cybersecurity programs; iv) expanded academia-industry collaboration; v) increased opportunities for students in a Hispanic-serving institutions such as UHCL to pursue professional careers in cybersecurity.
The project will establish collaboration with cybersecurity and educational professionals to sustain effective development and evaluation of course modules, courses, and degree programs. In addition, it will investigate NSF-funded programs and other resources to create an inventory of available course materials, hands-on labs, and degree program information to support Cyber Defense education. Further, the project will devise a plan to effectively integrate cybersecurity education into the existing programs by engaging educators in a variety of programs, and analyze the potential impact of the planned changes on existing program accreditations. The approach will seek to engage undergraduate and graduate students in various aspects of the proposed project. As a result, this project will produce a rigorous and adoptable approach of modernizing a traditional computer program to meet the nation's need for educating more capable cybersecurity professionals.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Project Title: Revamping a Traditional Computer Science Program to Meet Modern-day Cybersecurity Education Challenges
The goal of this project is to present a feasible modernization approach for a traditional computer science degree program to undergo rigorous self-study, gap analysis, and curricular development, in order to integrate cybersecurity knowledge and skills into the four-year program, while maintaining its current ABET and regional accreditations. Specific objectives of the project includes the following:
1. Further gap analysis to identify missing knowledge units (KUs)
2. Survey and acquisition/adoption of related hands-on labs
3. Developing new cybersecurity courses
4. Developing a new cyber defense track (with the new courses) as part of the CS program
5. Integrating KUs and hands-on labs into existing and new courses
6. Formative and summative evaluation of KUs and courses
7. Dissemination of developed courseware, labs, experience reports, and other relevant findings
Significant results generated from this project include:
1. Three new courses in cybersecurity, including
- Cyber Attacks and Defense (CSCI 3331)
- Network Defenses (CSCI 4341)
- Network Forensics (CSCI 4331)
2. A new network infrastructure for supporting the third new course, Network Forensics.
3. A full-day CyberEd Workshop;
4. An evaluation report of the three new courses and the CyberEd Workshop;
5. A new minor program in Network Security
6. Nine refereed research articles:
- An Exploratory Analysis of Blockchain: Applications, Security, and Related Issues. Proceedings of the 2018 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, & Applied Computing (CSCE'18). 08/2018.
- Is the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) Effective for a Workforce Comprised of Interdisciplinary Majors? Proceedings of the 2018 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, & Applied Computing (CSCE'18). 08/2018.
- Exploring How the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework Aligns Cybersecurity Jobs with Potential Candidates, the 14th International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering (FECS'18), 08/2018.
- Toward CAE-CDE 4Y Designation through Curriculum Modernization of a Traditional Computer Science Undergraduate Program, 2018 Proceedings of the EDSIG Conference. Norfolk, Virginia USA, Oct. 2018.
- Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity: Rethinking the Approach and the Process, the Proceedings of the National Cyber Summit (NCS), June 5, 2019.
- A Survey of Edge Computing Based Designs for IoT Security, the journal of Digital Communications and Networks, Elsevier, 9/2019.
- Examining the Influence of Participating in a Cyber Defense Track on Students’ Cybersecurity Knowledge, Awareness, and Career Choices, the Proceedings of the 2020 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, & Applied Computing Conference, 07/2020.
- Governance Attributes of Consortium Blockchain Applications. In Proceedings of AMCIS 2021.
- ActID: An efficient framework for activity sensor based user identification. Computers & Security. 108 (2021): 102319.
Last Modified: 12/13/2021
Modified by: Toneluh A Yang
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