11 Grad Students Join CyberExL’s 2024 Cohort

Eleven graduate students from three Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) schools — Norfolk State University (NSU), Old Dominion University (ODU), and William & Mary (W&M) — have been selected for the 2024 session of CCI Coastal Virginia’s Graduate Cyber Experiential Learning Program, CyberExL.

The project, led by Stephanie Blackmon, an associate professor at William & Mary, is an interdisciplinary experiential learning program that provides academy, non-profit, and industry placements for COVA region graduate students. 

Students work 20 hours a week for 13 weeks and receive a $5,000 stipend paid incrementally across the semester. 

“Experiential learning is an integral component of cybersecurity and technology talent development, as well as students’ overall learning and professional development,” said Blackmon. “CyberExL addresses these core areas and much more. We are so fortunate to have another wonderful group of graduate students and placement providers for CyberExL this year.” 

“We are proud of the growth of the CyberExL program and all of the great work that the 2024 cohort of students and placement providers are currently doing,” said Brian Payne, COVA CCI Node director and vice provost for Academic Affairs at ODU. 

Participants will work with cybersecurity companies and researchers virtually, in a hybrid model, or in person within the coastal Virginia region. Placement providers also serve as mentors for the students. 

“CyberExL is an excellent example of how we can create meaningful cybersecurity and technology-focused opportunities for students through partnership and collaboration,” Blackmon said. 

Students will work individually or as part of a team in such areas as:

• Cybersecurity and information systems research.
• Developing and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
• Developing AI models based on federated learning or models for image analysis using Large Language Models (LLMs).
• Interdisciplinary work in law and computer science.
• Generative AI framework.
• AI and supply chains.
• Federated learning and health care.
• Deep-learning models and AI. 

The 2024 cohort of CyberExL participants include: