Cybersecurity Across Disciplines Faculty Development for Manufacturing & Automation

Seventeen Florida teachers and faculty from all over the state started off 2023 at a 2-day faculty academy at Central Florida College (CF) in Ocala to learn more about the cyber security skills needed for technicians in manufacturing and industrial environments. In addition to the workshop, Sam Ajlani, Engineering Technology Program Manager at CF, provided a tour of the on-campus Lockheed-Martin training lab. This facility provides training for entry-level Lockheed-Martin technical employees at the nearby Ocala facility. Successful completers of the training program can later apply to the Lockheed-Martin apprenticeship program that includes the CF Engineering Technology A.S. Degree with the Electronics Specialization.

The cyber security workshop was led by Dr. John Sands, from Moraine Valley Community College. In Palos Hills, IL, and Mike Quaissaunee, from Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ. These two subject matter experts provide hands-on training and access to free online curriculum and resources for cyber security and IT skills. This collection of “emate” online modules also included Tinker cad templates and the Cryptool platform which are used to explore various vulnerabilities in electronic systems and to set up and break encryption codes, respectively. The attendees were invited to join the team by proposing any real real-world workplace scenarios that could become the basis of manufacturing and automation modules and student exercises to be shared with the current modules. All attendees enjoyed the fast pace and hands-on activities and were excited to bring these tools back to their classrooms.

With the continuous addition of Industry 4.0 technologies into manufacturing facilities, required connections to the internet with extended cybersecurity needs escalate. The workshop also included a presentation by Rich Weeks of NDG (Network Development Group) on the growing intersection of operation and information technologies ((OT-IT). The focus of this talk was to emphasize that technicians working in OT environments will very soon be needing subsets of appropriate IT skills and vice versa. Both types of discipline technicians will require specific training and educators preparing these technicians will also need to integrate these specific OT-IT skills into their classrooms.

The workshop is part of a national project of the NCyTE National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center housed at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham Washington. This NSF ATE funded center also delivered this academy and others for other technical disciplines with funding from the Microsoft Accelerating Community College Cyber Excellence Grant. (MACCCE). Funding included at $500 stipend for attendees meeting all requirements. FLATE and its NSF grant (Award 2148138) brought this workshop to Florida to support the grant goals to update the state curriculum Frameworks to better address the industry 4.0 technician skills needed top support Florida companies.