CyberTraining: CDL: Cyber Infrastructure Training and Mentoring (CI-TraM)

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces NM

Investigators

Abstract

The Cyber Infrastructure Training and Mentoring (CI-TraM) project serves the national interest by developing and increasing the cyberinfrastructure (CI) literacy of undergraduates who are interested in STEM careers. It does this through technical training and career mentoring focused around building knowledge in CI. CI-TraM provides direct mentoring of new undergraduates by active STEM researchers and IT professionals. The training will be provided by a diverse group of researchers in CI-intensive domains and CI professionals. Topics will include network and data security, high performance computing, computer architecture, and data analytics tools to provide the background to explore computing in a) cybersecurity, b) patterns discovery in biological data, c) computational physics, d) neuroscience, e) game design and human-computer interaction, etc. This will help address the challenge of creating a future STEM workforce that has the technical and professional skills needed to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; or to secure the national defense. The CI-TraM program, developed in a Hispanic Serving Institution (NMSU), cultivates untapped talent within a growing, yet underrepresented, population in STEM careers. The model used for community engagement and student recruitment addresses the transitions between secondary education, post-secondary education, and individual career planning and management.  The CI-TraM model will be designed to become institutionalized with the ability to be replicated in other communities. The main goals of the CI-TraM program are: 1) To develop a program that exposed and retains students in CI-STEM fields while teaching them valuable technical and life skills needed for successfully pursing, attaining, and maintaining careers, and 2) To develop a program that is sustainable and scalable to other institutions so that other student populations may benefit from the program. The program utilizes common job site internship procedures in area high schools that provide dual/concurrent college credit. The CI-TraM program will create a cohort of students interns each academic semester and summer (50/yr) that have demonstrated interest/ability in STEM career pathways. To achieve Goal 1, technical training and career planning modules developed and taught by working STEM researchers and IT professionals will be completed by each student intern. At the start and finish of the program a general assessment of a student's knowledge will be performed, and each module would have a tangible deliverable to evaluate student understanding and progress throughout the program. The program itself will be assessed by a longitudinal follow up that will track students into their futures. Assessment results will be used by the program coordinators in a continual improvement process. To achieve Goal 2, the modules will be generated using a standard Learning Management System allowing them to be transferable to other universities. External consultant-created rubrics will be used to evaluate the modules and their efficacy as well as the efficacy of the modules together as the body of the CI-TraM program and available for others to use.