skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Is the Nice Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) Effective for a Workforce Comprising of Interdisciplinary Majors?
Cybersecurity is a rapidly developing field in which job titles and role descriptions may vary from one organization to the others. The NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) provides a common language to categorize and describe cybersecurity work for organizations to build a strong workforce. As the predominant workforce prescribed by the NCWF is technical in nature, academic efforts targeted towards these career paths are likewise technical. Though technical security education is critical, an equal amount of knowledge outside the technical domain is pivotal to understand sophisticated challenges in cybersecurity. Articulating a concise, inclusive, meaningful, and unifying approach in cyber related education fosters a balanced motivation for students from both technical and non-technical majors (interdisciplinary) to pursue a career in cybersecurity. Towards this end, we analyzed competencies, knowledge, skills and abilities of interdisciplinary roles and other roles introduced in the NCWF; we then highlighted discrepancies observed.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1723596
PAR ID:
10095246
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Scientific Computing (CSC'18). Las Vegas, USA.
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ( , South Dakota law review)
    An inter-collegiate research team completed initial research analysis of 166 professional cybersecurity workers from government and industry to identify talent profiles aligned four roles within the Protect and Defend (PD) NICE Workforce Framework: Cybersecurity Defense Analyst, Cybersecurity Defense Infrastructure Responder, Cybersecurity Incident Responder and Cybersecurity Vulnerability Assessment Analyst. Anonymized data collected from multiple teams with performance assessments to build a statistically validated profiles of high potential PD cybersecurity candidates. The World of Work Inventory (WOWI) a multi-dimensional on-line career tool, assesses career training potential, job satisfaction indicators and career interests. Anonymized, aggregated ranked data described profiles of existing high performing candidates working in the field. Utilization of a statistically validated methodology to identify cybersecurity talent at different phases of an individual’s career life cycle supports recruitment of high potential talent from diverse backgrounds to increase the numbers of candidates entering cybersecurity education and training programs. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ( , Journal of computing sciences in colleges)
    Colorado-Washington Security Scholars Program (CWSSP) is a scholarship program for training and educating cybersecurity engineering students. Hosted in two universities for the students in the cybersecurity degree programs, the cross-campus program emphasizes virtual teamwork and collaborations in learning cybersecurity and executing the cybersecurity projects. This paper explains how the CWSSP program uniquely enhances the cybersecurity education and workforce development particularly focusing on the mechanisms to incorporate collaborations for the student scholars' training and the outcomes of the collaborations. We share our experience and insights from delivering the scholarship program in this paper. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , ASEE Conferences)
    Michigan Tech, West Shore Community College (WSCC), and Gogebic Community College (GCC) collaborate on the NSF ExLENT project aims to provide experiential learning opportunities in Mechatronics for a diverse STEM workforce. The program and its impacts are aligned with the regional economic needs of the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan areas. The emerging technology field of Mechatronics focuses on developing and implementing advanced automation for industrial applications. Thus, Mechatronics encompasses advanced fields, including robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity. Though the demand for mechatronics expertise is growing, experiential workforce development opportunities in mechatronics are limited. This project will provide ExLENT participants with experiential opportunities through an online Mechatronics Education Portal (MEP), experiential Mechatronics Practice initiatives at Michigan Tech, and a Mechatronics Industry Pathways Rotation organized at WSCC and GCC. The MEP and MP modules will be focused on the five Mechatronics pillars of Robotics, Mechanics, Electronics/Controls, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence. This project will leverage partnerships among three universities, three nonprofit organizations, and nine regional industry collaborators. Comprehensive program evaluation will ensure that the project meets its objectives in improving interdisciplinary Mechatronics training through experiential learning opportunities, developing a flexible and comprehensive program to promote a diverse and inclusive STEM workforce, and facilitating sustainable collaboration amongst project partners centered around Mechatronic workforce preparation and placement. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ( , National Cyber Summit 2019)
    The need for cybersecurity professionals continues to grow and education systems are responding in a variety of ways. This study focusses on the “interdisciplinarity” of cybersecurity that contributes to the emerging dialogue on the direction, content and techniques involved in the growth and development of cybersecurity education and training. The study also recognizes the contributions of other disciplines to the field of cybersecurity by the discussion of relevant theories that contribute to understanding security in the context of legal, economics and criminology perspectives. Finally, quantitative analysis (security metrics) is done to understand the existing knowledge of security behaviors and beliefs among students from technical and non-technical majors, helps measure the interest fostered towards an academic pathway in cybersecurity and substantiates on the need for providing a level of cyber education for all individuals appropriate to their role in the society. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ( , The 14th International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering (FECS'18). Las Vegas, USA.)
    We discuss the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF), and its role in aligning cybersecurity jobs with candidates. As a workforce development tool, the NCWF can contribute to better retention, reduced new hire training, and cybersecurity education development. The effectiveness of the NCWF, however, requires discretion from hiring managers, academics, and job seekers. Through skills mapping and calibration, the NCWF helps to identify and resolve skill deficiencies; as a framework of core competencies for cybersecurity jobs, the NCWF helps employers to write job descriptions understood by applicants. We first review the NCWF, and then explain how it may enable mapping between jobs and qualifications. We also discuss the effects of job mapping on organizations and candidates, and its long-term benefits. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email