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Woment's Outreach

The NIATEC program at Idaho State strives to create a more diverse educational setting for students as this reflects real-world work environments and stimulates a more exciting learning atmosphere.  Men and women of all ages are invited to apply to the Scholarship for Service program.  Our program is open to those pursuing a graduate program in Information Assurance.

Each year, the NIATEC program promotes the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month at Idaho State University and in the Pocatello/Chubbuck community.  Educational outreach is important to our program.  NIATEC students host campus awareness booths to help answer questions about cybersecurity and pursuing a cybersecurity or IT education.  Students also have started community outreach campaigns that target STEM education awareness to K-12 school environments.  Studies show that IT Security is currently a male-dominated field.  Some studies suggest that perhaps young women do not know the profession even exists and therefore do not choose the profession early in their lives.  The K-12 outreach program NIATEC created helps bring cybersecurity education awareness to young students so that STEM careers and cybersecurity are no longer foreign to them as they begin choosing their career paths post-graduation.

Additionally, NIATEC also works with the ISU chapter of the Association for Computerized Machinery (ACM) to host Girls’ Technology Day.  This one-day event allows local high school-aged girls to explore a variety of IT-related topics and presentations to learn more about the technology field.  This is a beneficial event for both the college-level presenters and the girls attending the event.

The following websites are useful resources for women interested in cybersecurity.

The NICCS homepage, which stands for National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, is very useful in providing a number of links and information for women and minorities interested in cybersecurity training, education, and careers:

In 2014, the first annual Women in Cybersecurity conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee.  This conference is an exceptional event that brings hundreds of women and even men together to discuss current issues in the industry and provide educational and professional resources to women.

The National Center for Women & Information Technology is an organization that seeks to motivate young women to seek out careers in Information Technology.  This website provides information on education advice, scholarships, and other beneficial resources.

 

NIATEC National Science Foundation Information Assurance Directorate Department of Homeland Security CISSE Scholarship For Service