Press Release
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Cyber Security Invitational Competition Brings
State CareerTech By Sharon Smith (Okmulgee) – The Fourth Annual Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology Cyber Security Invitational Competition was held recently to test the cyber security skills of students studying computer and network protection at Oklahoma’s Career Technology Centers. The contest was open to secondary students and postsecondary students. OSU Institute of Technology’s IT faculty hosted the contest in the university’s AT&T/SBC Excelerator information assurance and digital forensics labs. Scott Newman, OSU Institute of Technology’s Information Technologies Division Chair, says the competition challenges students to use skills they are learning in their CareerTech programs and will use in future work as skilled cyber security experts. Newman adds that the competition provides opportunities for OSU-Okmulgee’s Information Technologies faculty to interact with the state’s most talented cyber security CareerTech cyber security students. “The contest helps our faculty interact with the state’s best and brightest cyber security students. Through this competition, we hope to encourage many of these talented students to pursue rewarding careers in this exciting field.” Students work really hard preparing for the competition, says Matthew Jones, instructor at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater. “In our CareerTech classes, we teach students specific skills to apply to certain tasks, then this competition pulls all the tasks together in a comprehensive scenario. That way, the students can test their skills and see if they understand what they’ve learned.” Jones emphasized that the technologies students used in the competition have been developed in the past year. OSU Institute of Technology and area CareerTechs work collaboratively through a National Science Foundation grant to train students in cyber security and forensics -- one of the most in-demand career fields today. OSU Institute of Technology and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education are partners in a major pilot program that synchronizes a career path from high school through graduate school; the two organizations are continually pursuing new and innovative means to educate students, and this annual competition is one of those ways. Clint Webb, Instructor at Central Technology Center, says many of the students he brings plan to attend college at OSU Institute of Technology. “Coming to this competition allows my students a good chance to see who their instructors will be for their classes, what type of equipment they’re going to be using, and also the skills they’re going to gain over and above what we do in our classrooms. We have a certain amount of time to train them in what we can do, and it just shows that this is the natural progression that they’re going to follow as they go up in their education and technical skills. We always enjoy the competition and have a lot of fun.” Don Pipkin of Tulsa Technology Center - Riverside Campus brought his
first year students to the competition. “For my students, this
competition is an experience to learn a lot of the latest technologies
that they haven’t yet been exposed to in their CareerTech
classes.” The individual winners were: Secondary Winners: Postsecondary Winners: The students who participated in the competition and their instructors are: Central Technology Center: Ronnie Rogers from Slick, Dalton Bird from Bristow, Will Zacharias from Cushing, and instructor Clint Webb from Cushing. Meridian Technology Center: Bruce Bailey from Stillwater, Cody Gibbs from Stillwater, and instructor Matthew Jones from Stillwater. Tulsa Technology Center: Matthew Eman from Jenks, Jared Armstrong from Broken Arrow, Jonathan Welch from Tulsa, Jonathon Beck from Tulsa, Greg Morgan from Jenks, Billy Sheldon from Jenks, Cody Short from Skiatook, Ryan Menge from Owasso, Justin Gillespie from Broken Arrow, D. Boykins from Skiatook, Josiah Zimmerman from Tulsa, John Stinson from Owasso, and instructor Don Pipkin from Tulsa. Prizes for contestants included certification vouchers from CompTIA and SCP, biometric flashdrives and MP3 players from SanDisk security software packages from AccessData and scholarships to OSU Institute of Technology. About Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology Posted May28, 2008 |