The video above contains comments from Prof. Waleed Farag and student participants regarding their experiences during the Summer 2022 GenCyber Camp.

IUP GenCyber Summer 2024 Program

GenCyber Logo

GenCyber is a national initiative supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency. This program has the following goals:

  • Ignite, sustain, and increase awareness of K-12 cybersecurity content and cybersecurity postsecondary and career opportunities for participants through year-round engagement;

  • Increase student diversity in cybersecurity college and career readiness pathways at the K-12 level; and

  • Facilitate teacher readiness within a teacher learning community to learn, develop, and deliver cybersecurity content for the K-12 classroom in collaboration with other nationwide initiatives

The Funded Grant

Under the leadership of Professor Waleed Farag, IUP, along with a group of national universities, has been awarded funding to run the GenCyber program in summer 2024 for the ninth year in a row. This year, the camp is open to middle and high school students. It will address essential security concepts with an interesting, novel approach to strengthen interest in cybersecurity among middle and high school students in western Pennsylvania and beyond.

Project Summary

This project will host one free (no cost to participants), five-day, face-to-face camp in summer 2024. The program will also include online pre-camp activity days in spring 2024 and post-camp activities in fall 2024. A team of professors and instructors with varied backgrounds who have established expertise in cybersecurity teaching and research will deliver instruction. The camp will provide engaging instruction, group activities, structured discovery, hands-on laboratory experiences, and informal instruction to both individual and combined groups of participants. Upon completion of the camp, participants will have a strong understanding of cybersecurity in addition to mastering basic skills that can help them be safer online.

Questions

If you have any questions, please send an email to gen-cyber@iup.edu.

Or, contact the grant principal investigator:

  • Waleed Farag
    Director, IUP Institute for Cybersecurity and Professor of Computer Science
  • Phone: 724-357-2608
  • Fax: 724-357-7908

NEW: Advanced Camp 2024 (Middle and High School Students)

  • Participation advantages
  • Our advanced summer camp will be held face-to-face on June 24–28, 2024 (daily schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m...).
    • Camp is non-residential. All campers must be dropped off and picked up daily. 
  • Accepted campers will also commit to participating in two online pre-camp activity days on April 13 and May 4, 2024 (daily schedule 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.), and two online post-camp activity days on September 7 and October 5, 2024 (daily schedule 9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.).
  • Students must be entering grade 7 or higher in fall 2024 to be eligible to apply.
  • Student online application: Apply now!
  • Application deadline on Feb. 29, 2024.
  • Camp flyer
  • Camp brochure
  • Detailed Program Schedule — Coming Soon!
  • All accepted campers will have full access to an online course on D2L, which includes detailed program modules and a comprehensive set of cybersecurity resources.

Previous Camps Information

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