CyberConference 2019 Denver
Max Everett, Chief Information Officer, and Bruce Walker, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity, speak on May 14 2019 in Denver at the DOE Cyber Conference about the future of the grid.
Ryan Flynn, DOE

One and a half million. That’s the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs that are open as of this year. Many of these jobs that need highly-skilled cybersecurity workers are in the federal government, where we work every day to keep our nation’s nuclear stockpile and energy infrastructure safe and secure.

People trained in cybersecurity are a national asset. The Executive Order “America’s Cybersecurity Workforce”, issued earlier this month, calls for investments in the future and current cybersecurity workforce as a matter of American economic prosperity and national security.

“The CIO and the Department are aware that recruiting and retaining a world-class workforce is the lynchpin for executing effective transitions and mission accomplishments,” said Chief Information Officer Max Everett. “The U.S. Department of Energy is already making critical inroads into inspiring and equipping students across the country to join our top cybersecurity talent, preparing the leaders of the future and addressing the gender gap in technology. We offer engaging hands-on learning opportunities, exciting cybersecurity challenge games and competitions, classroom resources, mentorship, internship offerings, and more.”

The Energy Department is on the job, offering a myriad of ways to get inspired about cybersecurity careers. Read about our programs here and tune in to the conversation at the DOE Cyber Conference happening now (May 13-15, 2019), to learn more.

All Levels

  • Pink Elephant Unicorn. This capture-the-flag event run by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory provides training to build a cyber resilient community. Pink Elephant Unicorn includes students and professionals interested in cyber security careers, businesses who want to teach employees useful security practices, and skilled cybersecurity professionals looking to practice their skills and meet other professionals.

K-12

  • Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC). CREDC is supported by Argonne National Laboratory. It was designed to support increasingly sophisticated and resilient common cyber security knowledge in a new generation of utility professionals.
  • CodeGirls @ Argonne explore what it takes to think like an Argonne National Laboratory computer scientist – by programming robots! Along the way, participants will connect with other girls, solve fun challenges as a team, and meet women in STEM at Argonne.
  • Girls Who Code Summer Camps. The Cybercore Integration Center at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) sponsors a Girls Who Code club at Rocky Mountain Middle School. Over 10 weeks, several INL scientists mentored a group of middle school girls on developing computer programming skills.
  • Summer Coding Camp. At Argonne National Laboratory's summer coding camp, high school students have a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn how to code from some the best and brightest computer scientists in the nation. In this free five-day enrichment experience, students learn Python, connect with Argonne scientists and program a robot via a Raspberry Pi.
  • Girls Go CyberStart Competition with Idaho National Laboratory. This free interactive game is filled with digital challenges designed to introduce high school students to the field of cybersecurity. INL staff conduct mock interviews with students who excel in the program, and link them with potential opportunities for INL internships and fellowships.
  • Cyber Technologies Academy. An entry-level program for high school students intrigued by computer science and cybersecurity. Offering fun, interactive lessons and exercises, the Cyber Technologies Academy can be your first step toward becoming part of the next generation of cybersecurity experts.

Undergraduate

  • CyberForce Competition. Hosted by Argonne National Laboratory, the DOE leads an annual exercise-based competition with interactive scenario-based events. Teams are given energy focused scenarios to test their knowledge and approach to dealing with cyber threats, handling system vulnerabilities, and more. Multiple labs participate in this event, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory.
  • Science and Engineering Programs for Women and Minorities. Undergraduate women and minority students are employed for 10-12 weeks during the summer.  Participants are mentored by members of the scientific, administrative, or technical staff in an educational training program developed to provide research experience in various areas of chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, biology, nuclear medicine, applied mathematics, high and low energy particle accelerators, and scientific writing as well as non-scientific areas.
  • K-20 Cybersecurity Consortium Enabling Cybersecurity Opportunities & Research (CECOR). Norfolk State University leads a collaborative effort among 30 colleges and universities, one public school district, two National Laboratories (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory) and a Department of Defense facility to develop a K-20 pipeline of the country's critical cybersecurity workforce.
  • Girls Go Cyber FastTrack Competition with Idaho National Laboratory. This free interactive game is filled with digital challenges that connect college students to the opportunity to win millions of dollars in scholarships for advanced cybersecurity training. The program is run by the SANS Institute.  INL staff also conduct mock interviews with students who excel in the program, and link them with potential opportunities for INL internships and fellowships.
  • Computer System Cluster and Networking Summer Institute. This program at Los Alamos National Laboratory is a focused technical enrichment program that provides an introduction to the techniques and practices of cluster computing. The program includes lecture, laboratory, and professional development components.
  • Co-Design Summer SchoolLos Alamos IS&T Co-Design Summer School was created to train future scientists to work on interdisciplinary teams. Students in a range of fields work to solve a problem designed to build the skills they will need to tackle the challenges of the future.
  • Research Summer Program. For students majoring in computational science, computer science, mathematics and related science and engineering fields, Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences hosts a 12-week program for participants to work on projects in computational research, high performance computing, and/or high speed networking.
  • Nuclear Science and Cyber Security Consortium. The National Nuclear Security and Cyber Security Consortium was established as a UC Berkeley-led consortium with more than 150 professors, researchers and students at seven major universities and five partnering universities offering hands-on experience at four Department of Energy national laboratories.

Graduate & Post-Doc

  • Givens Summer Associate Program. The Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory offers positions for graduate students who are beginning careers in numerical analysis or computational mathematics.
  • Technical Institute Programs. Sandia National Laboratories provide opportunities to work on projects with scientists and engineers in specific technical areas, including cybersecurity, computer and computational science, predictive simulation, remote-sensing technologies, electrical and mechanical engineering, the physical sciences, and software engineering.
  • John von Neumann Postdoctoral research Fellowship. The John von Neumann Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Computational Science offers an exceptional opportunity to conduct innovative research in computational mathematics and scientific computing on advanced computing architectures at Sandia National Laboratories.

Teachers

AnneMarie Horowitz
AnneMarie Horowitz is the Chief of Staff for the Arctic Energy Office.
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