How can we better engage our students? How do we make the lessons learned lasting? The staff at Bossier Parish Schools, SciPort: Louisiana’s Science Center, and teh Cyber Innovation Center have teamed up to answer these questions and more!
“The key is to show students why the things they learn in the classroom are important and relevant. In other words, provide students context for the content,” said G.B. Cazes, Vice President of the Cyber Innovation Center. “The Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit (RARC) accomplishes just that.”
Over the past nine months, students have prepared and competed in a series of challenges that required critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. On Saturday, May 5, students were put to the ultimate test at the RARC, Competition IV. The day of competition was actually a series of three events. First, teams constructed a robot that autonomously found its way through a complex maze. Second, teams had 30 minutes to modify their robots to detect oncoming threats and then engaged those threats once they broke a threshold. Lastly, students were given a “box of parts” and required to build a mechanism to move cargo from one point to another while overcoming obstacles. “Participating in RARC and working with robotics has helped me understand science and math, specifically with its uses in daily life,” said Ashley Hollis from Haughton High School. “I made new friends and get a feeling of teamwork. I am very proud of my team; it’s our first year to compete and we have learned so much.”
To make things really tough, students were not aware of the challenges they were going to face when they arrived at the competition. Each team did receive hints regarding the three mystery challenges prior to Saturday’s event but specifics were withheld. “By requiring students to work under strict time constraints, they had to focus and rely on their teammates. These conditions are similar to what they’ll face in the real world,” said Henry Mejia, STEM Coordinator for Bossier Parish Schools.
“When my team is working with robots we learn a lot about circumferences and distance. Preparing for RARC has helped me work better with others and make more friends,” explained Bernard Dodson from Greenacres Middle School.
Chase Bounds from Central Park Elementary said, “RARC has helped me in my math class because I use the same calculations on our robot as we do in math. I get bored easily and this stuff never bores me. I love how I get to be with my friends at school and on the weekend playing with robots!”
After an intense day of competitions, the teams were anxious to see which schools were to be named RARC’s Competition IV winners and the overall RARC grand champions. Competition IV winners were awarded based on their performance and accuracy during the challenges. Stockwell Elementary-Team 4 placed first in the elementary division. Stockwell Elementary-Team 5 was awarded second place with Stockwell Elementary-Team 1 placing third. In the middle school division, Benton Middle School-Tigers 2 placed first with Ridgewood Middle School-Team 1 placing second and Rusheon Middle School-Rusheon Robotics earning third place. Southwood High School-Southwood Blue won first in the high school division. Parkway High School-Parkway Panthers won second place and Haughton High School–H-Team placed third.
The overall RARC grand champions were named based on the accumulation of points earned per team from all four competitions. If schools competed with more than one team, each team’s score was averaged together for the overall placement. Central Park Elementary emerged as the elementary grand champions. Benton Middle School became the grand champions of the middle school division, and the high school division grand champion was Parkway High School. All first, second and third place teams were awarded trophies, technology awards for their schools, and a pizza party provided by the Cyber Innovation Center.
In the award letter from the National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance, Bossier Parish Community College’s strengths were noted.
“Bossier Parish has strong outreach to the community and first responders. Wide technology, good labs and good opportunities.”
That’s how the campus became one of a dozen two-year colleges nationwide to be named a center of academic excellence for its efforts in information security.
The designation makes more sense when Chris Rondeau, program director of security with BPCC’s Division of Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, names the two federal agencies who bestowed the honor.
“The NSA and the Department of Homeland Security,” he said. “They partnered to create this standard.”
The designation boils down to a certificate that adds credentials to those working in cyber security. This is helpful for those working in or with the military or at a place like the Cyber Innovation Center.
To earn this was a two-year process that made program organizers tweak their existing curriculum to adhere to federal standards. The process started with 300 objectives that had to be covered in the program, Rondeau said. Each objective had to be tied to classes or books.
“At this point, the curriculum was already done, it just got beefed up,” he said.
Those 300 objectives allowed the program to be certified for levels 4011 and 4012. After the program was approved for those levels, the group went for the next two, which meant more objectives, more tweaking and back to the drawing board.
“Luckily, the department has six faculty members, so each could concentrate on their own course,” said Laura Goadrich, dean of technology, engineering and mathematics division.
Rondeau agreed, “In some cases, it enhanced classes taught.”
The next step is to work on the next levels and turn in the paperwork by August before reaching other levels. Keeping and expanding the certification will be a constant endeavor as everyday items encompass technology, Rondeau said.
“Security doesn’t sit still,” he said. “For example, if you’re in a GM car, it runs on OnStar. What if they hack your car? If they get into OnStar, they can control your car.”
Chancellor Jim Henderson said that having a skilled work force in this relatively new area is essential. That’s why it was important to earn the federal designation.
“This is the highest demand program — engineering, technology, and broader fields—and this makes us competitive in this field.”
WaLa!, a leader in enterprise information archiving, today announced it has established
its new corporate headquarters at the state-of-the-art Cyber Innovation Center
(CIC), which is the anchor for the 3,000-acre National Cyber Research Park
(NCRP) in Bossier City, La.
Formerly based in Shreveport, La., the company marked the news this month
with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by local dignitaries including Bossier
City Mayor Lorenz Walker and Bossier City Chamber of Commerce 2012 Chairman Kara
Lowrie.
WaLa! is the parent company of ArcMail Technology, Inc., which pioneered the
email and enterprise information archiving appliance market in 2005 and commands
a rapidly growing customer base across North America. Rory Welch, President and
CEO of both WaLa! and ArcMail, headlined the event and addressed the importance
of the CIC as a catalyst for growth in the region.
“We’re extremely proud to be a part of the Cyber Innovation Center and play a
role in driving further business growth across Northwest Louisiana,” said Welch.
“From a talented employee base, to excellent quality of life and incomparable
business resources, Bossier City and the CIC combine to offer just what a
technology innovator such as WaLa! needs to thrive and prosper.”
As WaLa!’s “big data” technology platform hits the market in the year ahead,
the company is set to change the way searches are handled across extremely large
data sets, Welch said. “The question is no longer, how much data do
organizations have, but how quickly can they search and analyze that data to
create actionable intelligence. We can’t think of a better place than the CIC to
further develop our leadership as this market takes off in 2012 and into the
future,” he said.
“We are excited to welcome WaLa! to the NCRP. WaLa!’s focus on technology
makes it a perfect fit for the NCRP. We look forward to seeing this company grow
within the Bossier Parish and Northwest Louisiana communities,” states Craig
Spohn, Cyber Innovation Center Executive Director.
The Cyber Innovation Center is a public/private initiative whose mission is
to support research, educational and technological advancement for the cyber
mission and to foster collaborative and strategic alliances between governmental
agencies, private industry and academic institutions.
For more information on WaLa!, visit the company’s blog at http://walasolutions.com/blog/tag/information-archiving/.
Follow ArcMail on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Louisiana Tech University will partner with the Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) in Bossier City, Louisiana to demonstrate the portability of Cyber Discovery – a highly integrated, team-based model for educating, motivating and retaining student interest in cyberspace, cyber-citizenship, information technology and security.
Cyber Discovery works by empowering individual teachers through advanced and innovative curricular designs that make use of team-based learning in five core academic areas: engineering, liberal arts, mathematics, science, and technology/cyber.
Louisiana Tech, a leader in integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula, led the development of Cyber Discovery in 2008 and what is now called the Cyber Discovery Model. Louisiana Tech has hosted Cyber Discovery on its campus since 2008.
“This model is an excellent example of what can happen when you have a quality and nationally-recognized program making a profound impact regionally,” said Dr. Stan Napper, dean of Louisiana Tech’s College of Engineering and Science. “To be able to share nationally what we have been doing at Louisiana Tech for many years is a tribute to our faculty and staff.”
G.B. Cazes, vice president of the Cyber Innovation Center, agrees. “Louisiana Tech has been instrumental in developing dynamic and innovative content. This pproach to integrated curriculum and emphasis on mentoring high school teachers is what makes our program so unique.”
In 2004, the College of Engineering and Science expanded its Cyber Discovery offering by implementing professional development programs for high school teachers which included student teams from their schools.
This past summer, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano accompanied U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu on a tour of the CIC to learn about the regional impact of the CIC’s educational programs for K-12 schools systems, higher education and the community.
“The Cyber Innovation Center serves as a model for the rest of the country on how to educate and train a cybersecurity workforce,” said Landrieu during the visit. “In today’s high-tech and constantly evolving world, we must have innovative, integrated and bold protection against the dangers that exist in cyberspace.”
The Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) in Bossier City, Louisiana received a $2.35 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security on April 17, 2012. This grant will enable the CIC to demonstrate the portability of Cyber Discovery. This demonstration is the first step in a national roll-out. “Our goal is to reach more than 2 million students and 15,000 teachers over the next 10 years. We’ll partner with over 60 universities and more than 800 high schools nationwide” says G.B. Cazes, Vice President of the Cyber Innovation Center.
Cyber Discovery is a highly integrated, team-based model for educating, motivating and retaining student interest in cyber-space, cyber-citizenship, information technology and security. The model works by empowering individual teachers through advanced and innovative curricular designs that make use of team-based learning in five core academic areas: engineering, liberal arts, mathematics, science, and technology/cyber.
The Cyber Discovery was created in partnership with Louisiana Tech University. “Louisiana Tech has been instrumental in developing dynamic and innovative content. This approach to integrated curriculum and emphasis on mentoring high school teachers is what makes our program so unique” says Cazes.
Louisiana Tech University has been a leader in integrated STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curricula at the university level since the mid-1990′s. In 2004, The College of Engineering and Science expanded its offering by implementing professional development programs for high school teachers which included student teams from their schools. These programs led to the development of Cyber Discovery in 2008, and are the genesis of what we now call the Cyber Discovery Model. Louisiana Tech University has hosted Cyber Discovery on its campus since 2008.
This past summer, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano accompanied Senator Mary Landrieu on a tour of the Cyber Innovation Center. During their visit, both Landrieu and Napolitano learned about the regional impact of the CIC’s educational programs for K-12 schools systems, higher education and the community. According to Sen. Landrieu, “The Cyber Innovation Center serves as a model for the rest of the country on how to educate and train a cybersecurity workforce. In today’s high-tech and constantly evolving world, we must have innovative, integrated and bold protection against the dangers that exist in cyberspace. These funds will help the CIC continue fostering a skilled workforce and supporting the high-tech, high-growth sector, as well as educating young people and making them aware of what is needed to keep us safe.”
Funding for this grant is through the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program. The model started locally, prosperously grew over the region, and has now been asked to spread throughout North America. The Program Chair for Cyberspace Science and Engineering at Louisiana Tech University, Dr. Galen Turner states, “Cyber Discovery is a national quality program that has a regional impact.”
Maj. Gen. Stephen Wilson, head of the Eighth Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, provided a windshield-tour-style barrage of information about his command, its history, its people, weapons and a big year ahead in a fireside-style talk to the Cyber Innovation Center membership Wednesday.
The lunch talk took place at the Silver Star Smokehouse in Bossier City, where the CIC members, local officials and the cyber curious meet once a month for the latest chatter from the field.
Wednesday saw a packed house that included Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker, former Eighth Air Force commander retired Lt. Gen. Bob Elder and a bevy of the noted local officials, military folks and representatives of local and area aerospace and cyber industries.
Wilson opened with important history.
Seventy years ago that day, April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led 16 B-25 bombers, including a number of men trained at Barksdale, on a daring raid to attack Tokyo. Such an attack never had been mounted before because of the island nation’s isolation and distance from modern foes.
“They knew it was a one-way trip, that they weren’t coming back,” he said.
Indeed, in that era before long-range refueling and support, the bombers did crash in Japan, or in Russia and China, and many fliers were killed or captured. Although actual damage was minimal, it shocked the Japanese into drawing needed forces back to Empire waters and giving the U.S. public a badly needed morale boost.
“It was a big deal,” Wilson said. “We could strike back.”
Fast-forward to the current wars, he said. He singled out a senior airman, Bryenna Brooks, 23, the Global Strike Command Airman of the Year.
A slight youth from Wisconsin “and a Packers fan, she might weigh 110 pounds soaking wet,” he said she’s an emergency medical technician with 2nd Bomb Wing who volunteered for a deployment to Afghanistan. There, part of a convoy, she was wounded by shrapnel after a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an insurgent passed through her armored vehicle.
“Thank goodness it didn’t explode,” he said, noting that fragments from its passage still badly hurt her legs, hip, back and neck.
“But she was an EMT, so she provided first aid care for the people in her vehicle and didn’t even notice the extent of her own wounds,” he said.
She was so badly hurt that she had to be medically evacuated.
He said she’s humble, and “if she was here today, she’d say, ‘Sir, can you stop talking about that? I was just doing my job.’”
That attitude, he said, is the bridge between people like her and the raiders under Doolittle, who was the fourth commander of the young Eighth Air Force.
Brooks is no less dedicated, no less courageous, a remarkable young airman focused on the mission, he said.
He brought air and space superiority to everyone’s mind by noting the importance of a date.
“April 15, 1953,” he said. “Nobody remembers that date, but it was the last time U.S. ground forces were attacked from the air by an enemy. All the years since then, they have not been attacked because we, the U.S. Air Force, own the air.”
And he described a sortie by a Barksdale bomber, happening even as the lunch went on, that would take 38 hours and not end for another 14 hours.
The bomber would fly halfway around the world, take part in an exercise and return to base without stopping, thanks to multiple midair refuelings, a task at which base crews excel.
“That is global power, the ability to go anywhere around the globe and deliver a weapon,” he said.
As for the airplanes, Wilson recounted multiple bombings of ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany, in World War II that involved thousands of airplanes and personnel dropping multiple thousands of tons of bombs, with thousands of crew members and hundreds of bombers lost in return for damage that often missed the target but rained on the surrounding countryside.
Today, he said, all that could be done by two B-52s with 10 total crew members, “and we wouldn’t miss (the target.) Today, two to three feet would be a miss. That’s what global power is, that’s what Eighth Air Force is all about.”
This year marks major milestones, he said. It’s been 70 years since Eighth Air Force was born in the crucible of World War II and 60 years since the first B-52 flew. Those milestones will be observed in a number of events this year, soonest with the annual Barksdale Air Force Base Defenders of Liberty Open House and Air Show on Saturday and Sunday. The Air Force Thunderbirds are headliners both days.
“Sixty years ago when it started out, no one dreamed (the B-52) would be doing the things it does today,” Wilson said, noting the service still estimates the venerable bombers will patrol the skies until about the year 2040. “Anybody here still driving a car built in 1952?”
The Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City will get a $2.35 million grant that is part of $22.8 million included in the fiscal year 2012 Homeland Security Appropriations bill for cyber education and outreach activities, authored by Louisiana’s senior solon, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.
The New Orleans Democrat, chairwoman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said the center is eligible for the funds because of the merits of its cyber security education program, which serves as a nationwide model.
In a release, Landrieu says the funding continues efforts to build a highly skilled work force and improve awareness of the importance of cyber security for the nation.
“The Cyber Innovation Center serves as a model for the rest of the country on how to educate and train a cyber security work force,” she says. “In today’s high-tech and constantly evolving world, we must have innovative, integrated and bold protection against the dangers that exist in cyberspace. These funds will help the CIC continue fostering a skilled work force and supporting the high-tech, high-growth sector, as well as educating young people and making them aware of what is needed to keep us safe.”
CIC head Craig Spohn agreed. “Sen. Landrieu has continued to show great support for new, innovative cyber education and work force development initiatives. Her leadership has helped blaze a new path that will not only build our nation’s future cyber work force, but also help secure our nation’s interest and its future as an economic force in the free world.”
This funding through the Homeland Security Department’s Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program will support the start of a Cyber Discovery model. Homeland Security will evaluate this model to determine whether it can be implemented in other states. The CIC has been an integral part of Homeland Security’s efforts to develop critical cyber security education programs. In July 2010, the center was awarded a $300,000 grant to support these programs.
“Cyber Discovery is a national quality program that will have a significant regional impact in each community that it’s deployed,” said G.B. Cazes, CIC vice president. “This program is a model that not only empowers K-12 teachers and college faculty, but also engages students through technology and lays a foundation for the development of our nation’s future knowledge-based work force.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visited the CIC with Landrieu in August as part of a tour of Louisiana homeland security sites.
A key focus of the Cyber Innovation Center is to build a regional work force around science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
In recent years, CIC efforts resulted in global technology companies such as Lockheed Martin providing a “foothold” to bring in jobs by establishing a regional office in Bossier City. But CIC officials say as industry grows, there is a need for more student interest in those fields.
“As a nation, we’re not providing enough STEM graduates,” CIC Assistant Director GB Cazes said.
To help solve this problem and to support anticipated local industry growth, the CIC developed an educational model set to be rolled out nationwide.
The model started with a cyber discovery camp that immersed six high school students and two teachers in cyber applications and programs, the social implications of cyber security and exploring cyber career fields.
The camp served as a catalyst to add more camps for younger students, develop professional development for teachers and redesign high school and middle school curricula around project-driven learning environments. The national rollout of the model begins this summer with a cyber discovery camp at the University of Baltimore.
“Our goal over the next 10 years is to reach over 2 million students and 15,000 teachers nationwide,” Cazes said.
Students tend to be more interested in the end uses of technological products and services, Benton High School math and physics teacher Marvin Nelson said.
“Activity- and project-based learning curricula like robotics classes in middle school and cyber science and NASA threads physics in high school help students learn about the technology behind the devices and systems they use every day and work to generate interest in STEM fields,” he said.
Recently, the CIC contributed $20,000 to send students from five area high schools and Louisiana Tech University to compete at the Shell Eco Marathon Americas in Houston, CIC Executive Director Craig Spohn said.
The competition challenged 99 high school and college students from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.
Nelson, who led the Benton High School team, said his students started on their vehicle in August and worked closely with the staff at the Northwest Louisiana Technical College on its engine.
The team placed 14th in the competition’s prototype category at 672 mpg. A joint team comprised of Airline and Haughton high schools placed 23rd in the same category at 230 mpg, while North DeSoto High School placed 28th at 94 mpg.
Parkway High School competed in the battery electric category and placed 19th overall at 34 miles per kilowatt-hour.
Nelson said students came away with “a much larger view of technology, technical education and the challenges that high-technology industries are facing.”
The CIC plans to sponsor student teams again and set up several local camps and workshops for this year to “engage students with technology,” Cazes said.
This past weekend has been a long but rewarding experience for the three high schools from Bossier along with one other high school team from north Louisiana. These four teams traveled to Houston, Texas to compete in the Shell Eco-marathon from March 30-April 1. The Shell Eco-marathon competition challenged 99 high school and college student teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles.
“Our team accomplished our goal of beating last year’s record. This year, our team achieved 672 miles per gallon. My students are very aware of the importance of creating new technologies to support conservation. The Shell Eco-marathon is a wonderful educational platform,” said Marvin Nelson, teacher and team lead of Benton High School.
Jason Porter, a student on Benton High School’s team says “The electronics of our car are controlled by the micro-controller that we first used in our school” through programs developed through collaboration between Louisiana Tech University and the Cyber Innovation Center. June Valeton, teacher from Airline High School said, “These students have done wonderful. We have learned a lot and are already planning for next year’s competition.”
Four high schools that were sponsored by the Cyber Innovation Center participated in the Shell Eco-marathon this past weekend. Each successfully ran the Shell Eco-marathon. In the competition of Prototype (Gasoline category), Benton High School placed 14th at 672 mpg, a joint team from Airline and Haughton high schools placed 23rd at 230 mpg and North DeSoto High School placed 28th at 94 mpg. Parkway High School competed in the Battery Electric category, and placed 19th overall at 34 miles per kilowatt-hour. Louisiana Tech and the CIC hosted a weekend workshop in December 2011 for the schools to give the high school teams the opportunity to learn from the university teams that have been so successful.
Louisiana Tech University came home champions. They took home four awards overall, including setting the new record in the Urban Concept (Diesel category) at 488.7 mpg. Louisiana Tech also competed in and placed 2nd in Urban Concept (Gasoline category) at 231.2 mpg. Tech won the Best Design and the Team Spirit competitions.
Dr. Heath Tims, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and one of the team’s faculty advisors shared, “I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the way they have represented us. Even as we competed and worked to correct problems with our cars, we were still assisting other teams, especially the high schools from Louisiana that competed in this year’s event.”
“Project-driven educational experiences are critical for engaging today’s students,” shared G.B. Cazes, Vice-President of Cyber Innovation Center. “It’s why the Cyber Innovation Center integrates these types of competitions and experiences into our curricula. It’s competitions like the Shell Eco-marathon that allow our students to showcase their problem-solving skill.”
A team of engineering students from Louisiana Tech University won first place for design and first place for diesel fuel mileage in the Urban Concept class and first place for Team Spirit at the 2012 Shell Eco-marathon Americas, held this past weekend in Houston, Texas.
The team from Louisiana Tech also earned second place for gasoline fuel mileage in the Urban Concept class.
Tech’s new Urban Concept vehicle, “Hot Rod,” won the diesel fuel competition in Urban Concept with a fuel efficiency mark of 488.7 miles per gallon. “Hot Rod” also won for best design with its retro hot rod look and red and white paint design featuring flames on each side of the front of the car.
“Roadster,” which set an American fuel efficiency record of 646.7 miles per gallon in the Urban Concept class in last year’s competition, took second place with 321 miles per gallon. “Roadster” retained its American record through this year’s competition.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the way they have represented us,” said Dr. Heath Tims, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and one of the team’s faculty advisors. “Even as we competed and worked to correct problems with our cars, we were still assisting other teams, especially the high schools from Louisiana that competed in this year’s event.”
The two-day competition challenged students to design, build and test fuel-efficient vehicles in an attempt to travel the farthest distance possible using the least amount of energy. High school and university teams from throughout North America took part in the event.
Benton High School, Airline High School, Haughton High School and North Desoto High School all competed in this year’s event and received assistance from Louisiana Tech during the school year.
The Louisiana Tech students, who come from many different academic degree programs, participate in the project as volunteers and do not receive any class credit. They design, build, paint and test the cars on their own time, usually in the evenings, after class and on weekends. They also assist with fundraising and publicity.
While employing skills they learn in the classroom, these students are also developing leadership and project management skills that will serve them throughout their careers.
Tims said the team will use this year’s prize money to develop new and more dynamic vehicle concepts in anticipation of next year’s competition. Team members have already begun looking for ways to improve upon this year’s success.
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