Workforce and People

Adam Miller, deputy director of the Office of Information Security and Cyber Defense, breaks down how it will centralize threat response and modernize safeguards, while helping to grow the state’s workforce.

Noting workforce demand and a gender disparity in technology fields, PC AGE Career Institute in New Jersey will provide $200 a month for low-income women to study cybersecurity or IT.

The department will be headed by Nevada’s now former cyber defense coordination administrator. The state also renamed the Office of the Chief Information Officer, to reflect its broadening mission.

Job applicants have already started using AI to get ahead, so K-12 districts would do well to start experimenting with what the technology can do to attract and process applications — and what it can't.

North Park University and the University of Illinois Springfield are expanding their workforce-focused virtual offerings, consistent with a trend in higher education to fill jobs by meeting students where they are.

Information and security officers from Oregon educational institutions shared insight on making people within their organizations more cognizant of cybersecurity and developing appropriate cyber defense strategies.

Plus, proposed legislation aims to address rural broadband funding issues, states address federal funding cuts and program changes, Spectrum is investing in digital skills training, and more.

More Hamilton County youth will be able to earn thousands beginning late this summer through a paid internship program, now backed with an additional quarter-million dollars in state funding.

In naming a new director and deputy director for the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham chose two people with federal- and state-level experience in connectivity.

LoDuca will bring more than 20 years of education and IT experience to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as it continues modernizing business operations and transitioning to hybrid cloud infrastructure.

Torc, an autonomous long-haul truck company, received the money from the Michigan Strategic Fund. It will be part of what’s estimated at a nearly $5.6 million investment, to create the center in Ann Arbor Township.

Michael Toland, Oklahoma’s chief information security officer, will exit the position and officials have embarked upon a search for his replacement. State CIO Dan Cronin will oversee cybersecurity in the interim.

University System of Maryland students will have free access to Google Career Certificates in cybersecurity, data analytics, digital marketing and e-commerce, IT support, project management and UX design.

Plus, experts encourage including artificial intelligence skills in digital literacy programming, Tennessee libraries are getting funding to teach such skills, Maine launched a new device sharing program, and more.

The Alabama city has deployed software with artificial intelligence to interface with several types of systems, according to CIO Stephen Dawe. Resident safety and avoiding liability are two key goals.

In response to industry demands, Minnesota State University will offer a bachelor's degree in robotics engineering and a master's degree in artificial intelligence this fall, expecting about 25 students in each.

Four community colleges in Pennsylvania are working with state and federal public agencies, local CTE schools and labor unions on a Career & Technology Academy and a hybrid MicroCredential Academy.

Citing workforce demand for professionals in these fields, as well as the importance of flexibility for students, the university will offer new online degrees with focuses including cybersecurity and business analytics.