The Tech Talent initiative aims to foster the long-term growth of education in technology in order to develop industries in the state.
A $40,000 grant from the Connecticut Higher Education Tech Talent Accelerator has been awarded to two School of Engineering & Computing professors — Mirco Speretta, PhD, and Chair of Computer Science Xiaoli (Lucy) Yang, PhD — in collaboration with Fairfield's Chief Information Security Officer Henry Foss and Jason Pufahl of Vancord, a Connecticut-based cybersecurity protection company. The grant will be used to improve the cybersecurity pipeline to industries in Connecticut.
“We are very eager to start this project with Henry and Jason, who are going to bring their great expertise in building a very valuable and comprehensive cybersecurity curriculum for our students,” said Dr. Speretta.
The Tech Talent Accelerator is an initiative developed by The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF). It aims to close the technology skills gap in the state.
The grant will be used to create and maintain a hands-on curriculum of projects focused on cybersecurity that will include the fundamental activities involving network monitoring and analysis and communication of results.
The curriculum will be used in the School of Engineering and Computing’s summer bootcamp and will also be integrated into existing graduate and undergraduate courses that cover related topics in cybersecurity.
The Tech Talent Accelerator grant was received from the New England Board of Higher Education through funding made available from the State of Connecticut’s Technology Talent Fund.
Fairfield Connects Host Alumni Event at Morgan Stanley Global Headquarters in New York City
This past November, Fairfield Connects and the School of Engineering and Computing hosted a panel discussion entitled "Cybersecurity Unplugged: Protecting Your Digital World" at the Morgan Stanley Global Headquarters in New York City. The panel discussion was moderated by Mirco Speretta PhD, and featured esteemed panelists John Manganiello '97, Alexandra Tarabour '13, and Mary (Galterio) Bachman '15. The event drew an impressive turnout with over 20 alumni in attendance. The panel discussed how their roles in cybersecurity differ across industries, but ulitmately come together to meet the same goal: to make our online identities safer.
Learn more about the School of Engineering and Computing at fairfield.edu/engineering.
