Software Engineering Institute

September 25, 2018—The call for participation is now open for the sixth annual Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) Conference and workshops to be hosted in Pittsburgh by the WiCyS organization and Carnegie Mellon University from March 28 to 30, 2019.

The WiCyS Conference brings together women in cybersecurity from academia, research, government, and industry to share knowledge, experience, networking, and mentoring. The event’s goal is to broaden participation in cyber by recruiting, retaining, and advancing females in the field of cybersecurity.

There are approximately 300,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs nationwide according to cyberseek.org, and various projections estimate that the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs may double by 2021. At the same time, women currently comprise only 11 percent to 14 percent of the cybersecurity workforce.

“Carnegie Mellon University’s strong commitment to supporting women’s pathways in cybersecurity disciplines makes the institution an ideal local host for WiCyS’ annual conference,” said Dr. Janell Straach, chair of the Governing Board, WiCyS organization. “This event celebrates not only diversity (especially women) in the cybersecurity workforce, but also the tremendous gains that can be achieved through our unique collaboration among academia, industry, government and research.”

Founded by Dr. Ambareen Siraj from Tennessee Tech University as a National Science Foundation project, the WiCyS Conference annually attracts about 1,000 attendees including students, professionals, and leaders in the cybersecurity field. Half the participants are students attending through scholarships awarded by WiCyS with the support of its sponsors.

“It’s especially fitting for Carnegie Mellon University to host the 2019 WiCyS Conference because the university is known as the birthplace of cybersecurity. It was here in the university’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) that the world’s first computer security incident response team, the CERT Coordination Center, was founded to respond to widespread Internet attacks,” said Dr. Greg Shannon, chief scientist, CERT Division, SEI, and a member of the WiCyS Board of Governors. “Our leadership in cybersecurity research and education continues to this day.”

The 2019 conference will have a new expanded schedule that includes four concurrent tracks to allow for greater participation. The four technical program tracks include

• Today’s Technology and Challenges: Current issues and challenges, advances in research and development, experimental findings
• Looking Ahead: Important technology and R&D trends, challenges on the horizon, upcoming solutions, tomorrow’s vision
• Best Practices: Institutional, operational, and academic best practices, tools, techniques and approaches
• Career Development: Leadership and advancement

Presenters may submit proposals through the WiCyS website at www.wicys.net/participate for lightning talks, technical presentations, birds of a feather sessions, workshops, and panels. Students and faculty can apply for scholarships to attend WiCyS at https://www.wicys.net/scholarships. The scholarships cover students’ and faculty members’ shared lodging and meals. 

Deadline for both is Nov. 1. For more information about the 2019 WiCyS Conference, visit www.wicys.net.