The Office of the National Cyber Director visited Pitt to discuss workforce development

On Dec. 11, the University of Pittsburgh hosted a roundtable discussion with Jake Braun, acting principal deputy national cyber director in the Office of the National Cyber Director, on cybersecurity and workforce development. The event brought together two dozen education and foundation leaders to share efforts to grow and diversify the region’s cybersecurity workforce.

“We were excited by the opportunity to showcase all of the good work in cyber education and workforce development at Pitt and with other partners around the region,” said David Hickton, founding director of Pitt’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security.

The list of that good work is long: Pitt’s CyberCamp trains 150 high school students each year, and Gencyber@Pitt brings high school teachers to campus to learn cybersecurity concepts. Pitt also offers a graduate certificate on the topic, along with boot camps and micro credentials for IT professionals, and is host to a number of cybersecurity research programs and centers.  

The roundtable’s guest list included deans, administrators and faculty members at Pitt along with other regional leaders in cyber education and workforce development, including the Community College of Allegheny County, Carnegie Mellon University, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Pittsburgh Public Schools.

After initial remarks from Pitt Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Rutenbar, the group discussed local cybersecurity workforce initiatives, diversifying the industry and raising overall cyber literacy levels.

— Patrick Monahan, photography by Aimee Obidzinski