The Business-Higher Education Forum Launches National Undergraduate Cyber Network at Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Experts from Government, Business, and Higher Education Unite on a Key Workforce Need

Washington (December 17) — The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) launched its National Undergraduate Cyber Network at an elite gathering at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This important event convened representatives from several BHEF business and higher-education member organizations from across the nation, whose regional workforce projects form the network, as well as cybersecurity leaders from the White House and federal mission agencies.

BHEF Chair and Northrop Grumman Chairman, CEO and President, Wes Bush, opened the day, remarking: "We all share the responsibility to ensure that college graduates are ready to enter the STEM workforce. I see the meeting of the minds that we have here today with this convening—with academia and industry and government and nonprofits—as a big step forward in helping to illuminate the challenges and the opportunities in how we address these important issues, such as cybersecurity."

Nearly half of BHEF's dozen Cohort I regional workforce projects are focused on the cybersecurity workforce. A professional and academic field still in formation, and one in which close interaction and collaboration among business, academic, and government sectors is essential to the development of effective undergraduate cyber programs, BHEF's National Cyber Undergraduate Network is uniquely positioned to create strong pathways for student success in this high-demand.

BHEF members have responded to the cyber challenge by forging a network of workforce projects across the country. Member campuses, including CalPoly, San Jose State, Miami-Dade College, and four colleges from the University System of Maryland, participated in Friday's meeting. Along with senior Administration officials and BHEF business-member representatives from Battelle, NextEra Energy, Parsons, and Northrop Grumman Corporation, each outlined a collaboration formula designed to shape innovative solutions for the cyber higher education pipeline.

Brian Fitzgerald, CEO of BHEF concluded, "BHEF and its members are committed to innovation surrounding our nation's critical workforce needs. BHEF member-led regional partnerships, which are designed to increase student persistence in key fields important to national competitiveness, such as cyber, align undergraduate education to regional workforce needs. Cohort I also includes projects in large-data analytics, information technology, and engineering. Cohort II, which is in development for a June 2013 launch, will expand our national network to include additional projects in materials science, sustainability, and other high demand fields."