U.S. Department of Commerce selects FIU as partner in cybersecurity education outreach


The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) granted FIU, and its partner New America, a cooperative agreement to host the annual National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Conference and Expo over the next five years.

“At FIU we pride ourselves in being a solution center for some of the greatest challenges of our time,” said President Mark B. Rosenberg. “We embrace this opportunity to help bring the cyber security industry together with the educational institutions that are training the people who will take and create jobs in the future.”

The NICE Conference and Expo brings together leaders from public and private sectors to examine challenges and opportunities for higher education and industry to address growing cybersecurity workforce shortages. This year’s conference will be held in Miami from Nov. 6-7, with the conference expanding to other major cities around the United States in the future.

“It is important that we extend our relationships to include employers from industry and the non-profit sectors in the United States,” said NICE Director Rodney Petersen.

FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy – a part of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs – and the Division of IT partnered with New America with the vision of making the conference more affordable and accessible to the national cybersecurity community. The NICE award is the first grant earned under the FIU-New America Cybersecurity Capacity Building Partnership (C2B). C2B was launched in August 2017 to develop knowledge and policies aimed at building the cybersecurity workforce at the state and local level, within the US government and industry, and internationally.

“We believe that cybersecurity is going to be increasingly important to all aspects of life, hence our excitement about partnering with FIU to identify new and innovative ways to build cybersecurity capacity,” said New America CEO and President Anne-Marie Slaughter. “By combining our strengths, we can have real impact. Central to those efforts will be building a bigger, more capable, and more diverse cybersecurity workforce.”

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education led by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Commerce Department’s partnership between government, academia and the private sector focusing on cybersecurity education, training and workforce development. Its mission is to energize and promote a robust network and an ecosystem of cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development.

For more information regarding the 2018 NICE Conference and Expo, please visit www.NICEconference.org.