SAC Holds Ribbon Cutting for New Cybersecurity Lab

The computer information systems/computer science department at San Antonio College held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the creation of a new cybersecurity lab in the Nail Technical Center. The lab will help teach students real-world applications for programming, networking, and cybersecurity through simulated scenarios.

The lab was made possible by a $68,000 grant from a pilot program through the Department of Education’s Cybersecurity Education Technological Upgrades for Community Colleges Program.

During the ribbon cutting, Dr. Robert Vela, president of SAC, said the Department of Education grant, along with a National Science Foundation grant to fund the SAC Cyber Service Scholarship Program, are a validation of the work the faculty and staff are doing in preparing the next generation of students.

“We are one of very few community colleges in the country that are landing these types of grants for cybersecurity. I think that is a testament to the leadership here and what we are doing,” he said.

Frauke Steinmeier is a student in the SAC Cyber Service Scholarship Program which is for veterans and students who have at least a bachelor’s degree. She was part of a class that set up the computer network for the lab. “We ran all the cables through the ceiling and hooked up all the computers,” she said. “We learned how to set up what a local business would have to run their organization.”

“I really enjoy that it looks like an office setting,” Steinmeier said about the cyber lab. “When you are in a space that looks like what you would be in, it makes it more real. A normal classroom does not put you in the mood of what it would be like. I definitely like that aspect of it.”

 –SAC–