In early 2022, Nadja Franklin ‘23 was exploring summer opportunities through the UMBC Career Center when she heard about a chance to connect with tech internships at Maryland’s state agencies. As a business technology administration major, her interest was piqued. She arrived at the on-campus internship event with résumé in hand, ready to discuss her skills, and her preparation and enthusiasm paid off. 

The hiring event was hosted by the Maryland Institute for Innovative Computing (MIIC) to help state agencies expand their technical talent pipeline through intern recruitment. The MIIC is a collaboration between the University System of Maryland and partners in the public and private sectors, launched in 2021. Administered by UMBC, the MIIC addresses workforce challenges related to computing and analytics in state agencies. Students at colleges and universities across Maryland are eligible to apply for internships through the MIIC, connecting skilled students with state employers seeking fresh tech talent.

Talent meets opportunity

The MIIC is continuously growing the pipeline of tech talent ready to support state agencies in the longer term, helping them run securely and efficiently. So far, in 2022, they’ve connected nearly 40 interns with opportunities at state agencies across Maryland, including the Department of Labor, Department of Information Technology, Department of Health, Department of Transportation and the Chief Data Office within the Governor’s Office.

“The MIIC reflects Maryland’s dedication to ensuring our state agencies have the technical staffing and internal infrastructure they need,” explains Annie Weinschenk, program director of workforce initiatives in the UMBC Career Center. 

“With cyber crime on the rise, including attacks on government agencies, MIIC is helping to build a skilled workforce dedicated to service within the state of Maryland,” Weinschenk says. “MIIC internship areas range from data science, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence, to geographic information systems at seven agencies across Maryland.”

Prepared to succeed

Franklin is a T-SITE Scholar in UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology who transferred to UMBC from the Community College of Baltimore County. At the MIIC event, she connected with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) about projects that would draw on her interests and experience, and she realized the opportunity could be a great match.

Afterward, she quickly completed her application for a project management internship in MDOT’s information technology department. She also accessed other Career Center resources to help her stand out as a top candidate, including interview prep with Weinschenk and Career Center Director Christine Routzahn.

“Students come to their internship experiences with a variety of backgrounds, levels of experience, and majors,” says Weinschenk. “We work to make sure they put their best foot forward, so they can access these unique hands-on learning opportunities.” 

Meaningful connections

Franklin’s primary project with MDOT involves radio frequency identification (RFID), tagging IT and non-IT assets for use in various projects across the agency. But she has particularly enjoyed the chance to meet with MDOT’s chief information officer and deputy chief information officer. She’s also had a chance to learn about the broad range of projects across MDOT, and how project management works, through supporting directors’ meetings. 

Franklin also drew on her writing skills and creativity to help develop scripts for MDOT training videos, and she enjoyed a unique chance to participate in the video filming and production process. 

Beyond learning new skills, her favorite aspect of the internship has been MDOT’s inclusive, welcoming environment.

K-12 and higher ed partnerships

While Franklin came to UMBC interested in a career in tech, that’s not the case for many students who have the talent and skills to succeed in tech fields. With this in mind, the MIIC has also focused on expanding K-12 initiatives, to help prepare students earlier on for these high-demand careers, particularly in cybersecurity.

Earlier this year, Governor Larry Hogan announced the launch of the Maryland Cyber Range for Elevating Workforce and Education, operated by the MIIC. This $1.2 million initiative will expand cybersecurity education and training through collaboration with the Maryland Center for Computing Education (MCCE), Virginia Tech U.S. Cyber Range, and the nonprofit Teach Cyber.

This partnership will include initiatives at all educational levels, from K-12 through higher education and workforce training. The U.S. Cyber Range will provide access to a high quality simulated environment for teachers and students to learn cybersecurity. 

Overall, this collaborative effort will enable Maryland to continue to grow and strengthen the state’s cybersecurity education infrastructure, explains Jack Suess, UMBC’s vice president of information technology and chief technology officer. 

Innovating cybersecurity education 

A leader in cybersecurity education, UMBC is also advancing the field in other ways, complementing the work of the MIIC. For example, Alan T. Sherman, professor of computer science, recently received more than $260,000 of a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study and improve how cybersecurity is taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy. 

The project, Examining Pedagogy in Cybersecurity (EPIC), is collaborative with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Minnesota Duluth, and is funded through NSF’s Secure and Trustworthy Computing (SaTC) program. Because the academies teach cybersecurity to all first-year students, EPIC offers a large-scale opportunity to investigate how simulation-based teaching and learning affects different student populations.

In the first phase of the research, Sherman and his collaborators—including computer science Ph.D. student Andew Slack and Linda Oliva, assistant professor of education—will study how instructors at the academies structure and teach their cybersecurity courses. In the second phase, they will introduce active simulation-based learning exercises and pedagogies and assess their effectiveness. 

UMBC’s championship-winning Cyberdawgs cyberdefense team will help adapt and improve learning materials. As one quantitative measure of the new pedagogy’s effectiveness, EPIC will assess students’ conceptual understanding using the Cybersecurity Concept Inventory (CCI), developed by Sherman and his team. 

Benefits for Maryland

MIIC initiatives continue to expand in new directions. In research, The Hilltop Institute at UMBC is receiving funding to bring together health data related to opioid addiction from different state sources to more accurately identify patients’ risks for relapse. Like the MIIC’s educational initiatives, this work demonstrates how innovations in computing can benefit Maryland and its residents.

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States and a recent Business-Higher Education Forum report calls Maryland the “epicenter of national cybersecurity.” The report, Building a Diverse Cybersecurity Talent Ecosystem to Address National Security Needs, found that University System of Maryland (USM) efforts to increase the number of students who earn degrees in cyber-related fields has made progress in meeting the needs of the region. It also emphasized that more growth is needed, through programs like those UMBC offers, to meet increasing industry demand for cyber professionals.

In a USM press release, Chancellor Robert L. Caret says, “The University System of Maryland has been committed to growing cybersecurity programs at universities across the state to serve the needs of students and employers in this burgeoning field.” USM highlights programs across the five universities “leading the way” in cybersecurity, including UMBC’s Cyber Scholars program, launched with support from the Northrop Grumman Foundation, and a new cyber apprenticeship program, created through a partnership between UMBC Training Centers, the Maryland Department of Labor, and Gov. Larry Hogan.

In its coverage of the report, The Daily Record focuses on two core findings: the need for students to gain work experience and demand for a diverse cybersecurity workforce. It highlights the work of USM institutions to grow “undergraduate pathways into cybersecurity that attract students with diverse backgrounds and interests, engage them in meaningful learning experiences that reflect the cutting edge of the field and encourage them to stay in the region to build their careers.”

The highlights a UMBC program to explain this idea, noting, “UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars program is viewed as a national model for increasing diversity in STEM fields, and the university drew on lessons learned from that model when it launched the Cyber Scholars program in 2013.” As illustration, the report profiles Lauren Mazzoli ’15, computer science and mathematics, M.S. ’17, computer science, a systems engineer in the Future Technical Leaders Program at Northrop Grumman. It showcases her experience as one of UMBC’s first Cyber Scholars and the value she found in UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology and an internship at the Department of Defense.

Graduates from UMBC computing programs continue to have an impact through work with government agencies and top companies in cybersecurity fields. From the Class of 2018, Cyber Scholar Priyanka Ranade ‘18, information systems, is now a cyber software engineer at Northrop Grumman and T-SITE Scholar Bryan Vanek ‘18, computer science is participating in the Computer Network Operations Development Program at the Department of Defense.

Banner image: Mobile technology. Photo by WOCinTechChat, CC BY 2.0.

Bryan Vanek
B.S., Computer Science
Minor: Mathematics
Cum Laude
Hometown: Frederick, Maryland
Plans: Computer Network Operations Development Program, U.S. Department of Defense

If it weren’t for the incredible mentors, teachers, and students at this school, I would not be the security researcher and professional that I am today.

When Bryan Vanek transferred to UMBC from Frederick Community College, he focused on building connections with classmates and professors, which proved incredibly valuable as he developed a passion for computer science and cybersecurity, and sought out new opportunities to grow.

Vanek became president of UMBC’s Cyber Dawgs team, which took first place at the 2017 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Following that major victory, he has continued to serve as Cyber Dawgs president, while also participating in other cybersecurity competitions, including the Wargames capture the flag event at the international DEFCON conference, where he placed 42nd overall.

The Center for Women in Technology provided mentorship and support to Vanek, who is a Transfer Scholar in Information Technology and Engineering (T-SITE) Scholar. He says that the Cyber Dawgs team and CWIT program have helped him to develop skills necessary for success in a computer science career. Vanek gives back by serving as a mentor in cybersecurity at Exerceo, a nonprofit which provides skill development opportunities to high school students, college students, and young adults.

Vanek also completed two internships at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) while at UMBC. These positions led to an exciting job offer for him, as a member of the Computer Network Operations Development Program at the DoD. Vanek credits “professors that continually showed a vested and fervent interest in my success” and UMBC’s connections with a robust networks of employers with empowering him to plan and pursue a cybersecurity career.

Portrait by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Kiante Brantley
Plans: Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park
M.S., Computer Science
Magna Cum Laude
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

UMBC has prepared me for my next goals in life, both academically and professionally. A person’s environment has a huge impact on helping them achieve their goals. UMBC’s environment has provided me with a very enriching atmosphere to help me explore my interest in data science.

Kiante Brantley ’15, computer science, began his college career at the Community College of Baltimore County before coming to UMBC, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in just two years as a participant in the NSF-funded Transfer Scholars in Information Technology and Engineering (T-SITE) program. Brantley has continued on to complete his M.S. in computer science in one year, and he is now preparing to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science, with a focus on machine learning, at the University of Maryland, College Park.

As a highly successful, driven, self-directed learner, Brantley has become a role model for transfer students and computer majors from underrepresented groups. He credits UMBC with helping prepare him for his next set of goals, both academically and professionally.

Through high-level coursework, lab research, and mentoring opportunities, Brantley has cultivated both technical skills in computer science, machine learning, and data science, and soft skills in public speaking and professional writing. He has given back to the T-SITE community as a mentor for transfer students pursuing computer science degrees.

Brantley currently works at the U.S. Department of Defense, which he plans to continue through his Ph.D. studies.

Image: Portrait by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.