Outreach & workforce pipeline
A "grow our own" strategy running from middle school through graduate research, feeding directly into the center's three pillars.
CybHER
The nation's largest residential girls-only cybersecurity camp, co-founded by A. Podhradsky and sustained through NSA/NSF GenCyber grants and corporate partnerships. Runs alongside the Governor's Cyber Academy as a direct K–12 pipeline into the center's cybersecurity workforce mission.
125+ students / yearK–12 & STEM pipeline
Embedded in South Dakota's NSF E‑CORE RII network (Black Hills State / CAMSE, PI Sayler), operationalizing a K–12 STEM pipeline and broadening participation across rural and tribal communities statewide.
Student research pathways
- REU / NRT — embedded student researchers rotate across pillar labs statewide.
- Cross-pillar seed grants — $10–25K awards inviting affiliate faculty from any SD Board of Regents institution.
- Cyber-Informed Engineering degree — planned joint SD Mines / DSU pathway, pending Board of Regents approval.
USTART Innovation Exchange
Biannual partner-sourced problem cycles led by D. Engebretson, where center faculty, postdocs, and students produce IP-ready artifacts routed directly into SBIR/STTR pathways.