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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s School of Business and School of Engineering (SOE) teamed up to host more than one hundred Illinois high school students for Cybersecurity Career Day on March 22. Teens were quickly able to put their skills to work to learn about cybercrime in team challenges, while learning of the numerous career opportunities available to SIUE graduates in the field of cybersecurity.

The 120 attendees included students, teachers, parents, and mentors from Mastercard, Protiviti, and Caleres. Students from Alton High School, Civic Memorial High School, Collinsville High School, East Alton High School, Granite City High School, Madison High School, and Triad High School all had the opportunity to interact with students from other schools, cybersecurity students at SIUE, and academic and industry mentors, as they learned about what it takes to be successful in cybersecurity. The signature event was the virtual “Capture the Flag” team challenge where teens put their creative problem solving and analytical thinking skills to use to fight cybercrime.

Fourth-year students from the School of Business’s CMIS 422 Information Security class took part in the day by greeting the students and working with them as mentors. The day wrapped with a panel discussion on “How I Got into Cybersecurity” with speakers from MasterCard, Protivitiy, Caleres, St. Louis Community College, and Tim Jacks, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Computer Management Information Systems, School of Business.

There are reportedly more than 7500 cybersecurity jobs available in the St. Louis area with starting salaries at $80,000 and above. Events like Cybersecurity Career Day are especially important in helping with outreach to women and marginalized communities who are typically underrepresented in this growing field.

The day’s content was led by A.J. Eads of the Security Advisor Alliance. Jacks facilitated the event planning with support from SIUE's ITS Department. Jacks serves on the Executive Committee for the Gateway Higher Education Cybersecurity Consortium (GHECC). GHECC, of which SIUE is a founding member in 2018, served as the lead sponsor, with Executive Director Dave Reddick as one of the event coordinators. Cem Karacal, PhD, professor of industrial engineering and Dean of the SOE, serves as the current board president of GHECC.

The School of Business Cybersecurity specialization launched in 2020 after winning a 2018 Chancellor’s Innovation Grant. The Grant enabled the School of Business to create a new program to meet local industry needs in cybersecurity. SOE launched its new Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Engineering program in 2023, which is jointly offered through the Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs.

“Hopefully there will be students who attended the event who we will see in our classrooms at SIUE in the near future!” said Jacks. 

 
PHOTOS: A.J. Eads, interim executive director of the Security Advisor Alliance, leads presentation to a room of area high school students; Tim Jacks, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Computer Management Information Systems, School of Business, takes selfie at Cybersecurity Career Day; photos by Tim Jacks, PhD