Douglas S. Alexander |
Director, Rhode Island College Institute for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies
1. What is your vision and goal for the institute? The institute is well positioned to be a central state resource for cybersecurity workforce development, policy guidance and community connections. The institute is building a pipeline for students coming out of the region’s K-12 schools to train them for high-paying, good-quality cybersecurity and technology jobs.
2. Your experience includes teaching and K-12 technology administration. What did you do within the education realm while with OSHEAN Inc.? I have worked pretty deeply across classroom instruction, curriculum design and technology administration. I have designed technology lessons, managed the entire gamut of school and district technology, and provided nonprofit OSHEAN members a suite of network services and support.
3. Where do you see the technology and cybersecurity sectors in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts heading in the next five years? At least three trends are going to collide and produce some very powerful needs and funding requirements. One is that as schools, businesses and government migrate their services to the cloud, their [information technology] employees will need to be trained on how to manage and secure their data. Two is that smaller entities – not just big enterprises – are going to be required by the government or their insurers to significantly ramp up their organizational cybersecurity. … The third is that I think we need to come together and share threat intelligence information on a much more coordinated level than we’re doing now.
4. How will the institute respond and adapt to that changing technological landscape? Being at a state college gives us solid roots in the community through our students, educators and the industry partners who will come to us for training and certifications. As our partners come in from the community to practice their cybersecurity skills at our cyber range or attend workshops and presentations from experts, we will learn from them and adjust.
5. How much of the institute’s programming will revolve around training the future workforce on artificial intelligence? We are very excited to be launching a bachelor’s program in AI starting this fall at RIC, as well as two minor offerings in AI and Applied AI that can be combined with any number of degrees in other departments. Students will take classes in machine learning, data science, AI in Gaming, AI application and impact, and social and ethical issues in technology.
