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PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) — The University of West Florida’s Center for Cybersecurity and AI has been tapped to be part of a national center that will measure the workforce, economic and mission impact of cybersecurity education.
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According to a news release, UWF’s center will serve as the South Regional Hub for the newly established Economic Assessment National Center.
UWF joins six other higher education institutions in the Hub to find a consistent way of measuring the contributions of the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity community.
In addition to UWF, the national center includes Coastline College as the national lead, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs as the West Hub, Metropolitan State University as the Midwest Hub, the University at Albany, State University of New York, as the Northeast Hub, Kean University as the Mid-Atlantic Hub, and George Mason University as the Southeast Hub.
The initiative is supported by a two-year, $1.5 million award through the NCAE-C program.
“UWF has a strong record of advancing cybersecurity education and developing the talent our nation needs to meet emerging challenges,” said UWF President Manny Diaz Jr. “By helping lead this national effort, we can strengthen collaboration among higher education institutions and build a clearer understanding of how cybersecurity education contributes to workforce development and national security.”
UWF will work with those other universities to develop a consistent framework of measurement using information on cybersecurity education, graduates, industry certificates, workforce pathways and economic outcomes.
The goal is to produce national reports and data dashboards that help institutions, regional partners and federal stakeholders better understand the outcomes of cybersecurity workforce development and examine how cybersecurity education strengthens workforce readiness, institutional capacity and national cybersecurity priorities.
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For more information, visit the UWF website.
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