Young Girls Crack the Codes on Technology

Young girls make up the next generation of cyber security, and hundreds Girl Scouts from middle schools throughout San Bernardino County showed that during a two-day engineering and technology event held at Cal State San Bernardino from Dec. 17 to 18. Approximately 200 young women learned about cyber security, deciphering codes and designing and creating model airplane gliders during the hands-on Cyber Pathways for Middle School Girls, an event created to show female middle school students and underrepresented minorities the fields of engineering, cyber security and ongoing computer programs at the university, explained event coordinators. “We are investing in the cyber security leaders of tomorrow,” said Tony Coulson, a professor in the university’s Information and Decision Sciences program and director of the CSUSB Cyber Security Center. Sponsored by CSUSB’s Cyber Security Center, the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio and the National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC) in Bossier City, La., the event was put on with the help of 40 current CSUSB students and faculty volunteers. Focusing on young women was meant to help reverse the low numbers of women currently in science-related fields, including cyber security, Coulson explained. “Nationwide, 13 percent of girls are in cyber-science-related fields," Coulson said. Thirty-five percent of women make up CSUSB's cyber security program and are often times hired first, Coulson added. "Not because they are female, but because they are that good in cybersecurity,” Coulson said. Parkview Middle Schooler Nathalie Rodriguez-Martinez worked with two other students measuring clay to put on the noses of gliders, designed by computers, they were building. Participating young women received an overview of engineering and technology concepts to create their own drone gliders, and completed a cyber-obstacle course that involved creating passwords and breaking codes. “It’s so cool,” Rodriquez-Martinez said. “We worked with computers last year. I’m looking forward to flying the gliders.” Student Faith Kinzle, also from Parkview, called it “a good experience. It’s good to be here to learn about this.” Quinn Benitez of Mesa View Middle School in Cabazon said she was interested in robotics and had learned how to code and write htmls, the computer language used by many websites. Speakers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spoke, as well as university admissions staff, who talked about college readiness, among other topics. On the second day of training, volunteers worked with 36 teachers throughout San Bernardino County and the city of Riverside, providing tips for the teachers to use in their classrooms. “Our goal is to have these teachers learn how to implement these various modules into their curriculum,” said Coulson.