CivilianCyber, CCI partner in student-mentoring program
February 13, 2023
CivilianCyber has expanded its Technology Enabled Engagement with Mentoring (TEEM) program to the entire state, offering Virginia college students an opportunity to connect with professionals and learn about cybersecurity outside the classroom.
Students work to solve a challenge at CCI Cyber Camp 2022, which included the participation of officials from CivilianCyber. CCI partners with companies such as CivilianCyber to provide experiential learning opportunities as part of its mission of Workforce Development.
TEEM, an eight-week program funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), provides students with high-quality training while honing their critical thinking and soft skills as they prepare to enter the workforce.
“We need to find ways to better prepare students and bridge the gap between academic knowledge and employers’ needs to hire well-prepared candidates,” said Bobby Keener, CEO of CivilianCyber. “TEEM supports this goal through a self-guided course of study that is brought into real-world focus via routine, student-driven mentoring sessions with a cybersecurity professional.”
“CCI is proud to be funding this program as part of our workforce development mission to ensure that cyber and cyber-adjacent Virginia graduates are competitive in the hiring marketplace,” said Sarah Hayes, CCI portfolio director. “CivilianCyber has a strong record of enabling partnerships with industry to create opportunities that will benefit both students and employers, and we are excited to support this important work.”
To be eligible for TEEM, students must be in their sophomore or junior years at an accredited Virginia college or university, have a minimum GPA of 2.5, and complete a comprehensive cybersecurity mentoring-readiness assessment.
Twenty-one students are participating in the first TEEM program, which began January 30.
| Participating students represent: | |
| George Mason University | Northern Virginia Community College |
| James Madison University | University of Virginia |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | Virginia Tech |
| Old Dominion University | New River Community College |
Each student is paired with an information security/cybersecurity professional. Mentors are asked to volunteer one hour a week to discuss the student’s experience and answer questions. Mentors include:
- Natalie Birindelli, senior security advisor at Amazon Web Services
- Anthony Fung, vice president of intelligent automation at Impact Makers
- Eddie McAndrew, COO & CIO at AIS NetworkLeigh Anne Dunn, information security officer at the Virginia Community College System Office
- Robert Powell, senior advisor for cybersecurity at NASA
Doug Streit, a mentor from the Virginia Alliance for Secure Computing and Networking (VASCAN), said, “I really appreciate that TEEM was designed to be easy for mentors to participate while still providing meaningful student impact.”
CivilianCyber plans to run a second round of TEEM in the spring of 2023.
About CivilianCyber
Coronet Technology Enterprises, doing business as CivilianCyber, was founded in 2018 as a workforce technology company focused on developing tools to address the shortage of trained technology professionals.
Professionals work across the human capital continuum, managing the needs of candidates with internships and apprenticeships, as well as upskilling and reskilling experienced individuals to meet the ever-changing requirements of the employer.
This approach has been validated and endorsed by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, the U.S. Army, the Virginia Department of Veteran’s Service, and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as economic development authorities and colleges and universities across the commonwealth.
These services are complemented by CivilianCyber’s recently introduced Workforce Insights as a Service (WIaaS) workforce analytics suite of solutions that enhance organizations’ ability to make strategic decisions that deliver measurable value across the human capital supply chain.
About the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative
Funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative is a highly connected network that brings together 41 Virginia institutions of higher education, industry, and government to focus on research, workforce development, and innovation at the intersection of security, autonomous systems, and intelligence. CCI’s objective is to make Virginia a globally recognized center of excellence in cybersecurity.