GenCyber expands on the goals of the CyberCorps program and serves as a way to get younger students interested in, and informed about, careers in computer science and security. Through hands-on activities in the lab, lectures from teachers, college professors and undergraduate students, and field trips to see cybersecurity in practice, middle- and high-school students can learn about cybersecurity before they enter college.

Credit: NSF

In 2015, 29 universities in 19 states hosted 43 GenCyber camps on their campuses. Completely free, they attracted 1,400 participants, of whom 50 percent were female--an impressive figure given the fact that only 18 percent of computing students in 2013 were women and only 11 percent of cybersecurity professionals are women.

Credit: NSF

GenCyber, a summer camp jointly developed and supported by NSF and NSA, is introducing high-school and middle-school students to the basics of cybersecurity, providing mentorship and diverse role models and even helping them form communities of young cybersecurity experts.

Credit: Bob Brown