UAA GenCyber Academy

GenCyber logo with green, yellow and white bars

2024 Application Now Open

The application for the 2024 UAA GenCyber Academy is now open. Apply online before the deadline on Friday, March 22nd, 2024. 

About the GenCyber Academy

The University of Alaska Anchorage GenCyber Academy is a free, one-week summer camp for Alaska high school students. The Academy strives to provide a broad educational background for high school students who are interested in pursuing cybersecurity as a career, with a focus on cybersecurity principles such as defining risks and understanding threat models; confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA); access structures; programming languages; databases, SQL, and steganography; and ethical considerations. 

Participants will learn:

  • How to think like an attacker and be an ethical hacker
  • About essential security technologies and technique
  • How to build secure systems
  • And about cybersecurity career pathways

All current high school students in Alaska are welcome to apply, though preference will be given to:

  • Students who speak Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, Arabic, or Korean
  • Students who would become first-generation college students if they choose to attend college after high school
  • Students who qualify for the National School Lunch Program
  • And students who have previous computer science or cybersecurity experience

Our goal is to inspire the next generation of cybersecurity professionals who will help to protect Alaska’s citizens and infrastructure. Our state is home to large military, government, and resource extraction sectors that require additional cybersecurity expertise. Alaska is also the only state in the nation with access to the Arctic, an increasingly important geopolitical sphere, and recent global events have reminded us that we must always be prepared. 

For these reasons, we want participants who are committed to bettering themselves and their community. We want participants who will work hard to gain the knowledge and skills they need to make Alaska a safer place. 

Important Dates

  • March 22, 2024
    Application Deadline
  • April 5, 2024
    Announce application results
  • April 27, May 4, May 11, & May 18, 2024
    Pre-Camp Events
  • June 17-21, 2024
    Summer Camp

 

Contact Us

You can reach the program director, Joe Selmont, at uaa_gencyber@alaska.edu
 
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Do you have what it takes to join the next generation of cybersecurity professionals? 

Apply Now

 


The UAA GenCyber Academy is funded by a grant from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the national GenCyber program, which strives to be a part of the solution to the nation’s shortfall of skilled cybersecurity professionals. Ensuring that enough young people are inspired to utilize their talents in cybersecurity is critical to the future of our country’s national and economic security as we become even more reliant on cyber-based technology in every aspect of our daily lives.

Schedule

The UAA GenCyber Academy will be held during June 17 to 21, with additional pre-camp events in April and May. Participants must commit to attending all parts of the program in person, which will be hosted at UAA's campus in Anchorage. 

Pre-Camp Events
Saturday, April 27, 10 am - 1:30 pm 
Saturday, May 4, 10 am - 1:30 pm
Saturday, May 11, 10 am - 1:30 pm
Saturday, May 18, 10 am - 1:30 pm

Summer Camp
Monday to Friday, June 17-21, 9 am - 4 pm

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Sponsors

The program is supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Security Agency, and GenCyber.

NSF Logo
GenCyber logo
NSA Logo