MARQUETTE –The Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Consortium, convened by Northern Michigan University in collaboration with industry and education partners, has received two innovation grants totaling $2.47 million through the state’sMarshall Plan for Talent.

It is among 13 consortia statewide awarded funding to develop talent pipelines for high-wage, high-demand occupations through enhanced education and training initiatives.

Businesses and organizations are increasingly eager to hire employees capable of detecting and preventing costly data breaches, yet there is a critical shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals. According to the annual workforce study by non-profit information technology organization (ISC)2, 2.9 million positions are vacant worldwide. The U.P. Cybersecurity Consortium seeks to enhance related career opportunities in the region, and the grant will help to accelerate those efforts.

“We’re elated that the Marshall Plan for Talent is demonstrating the value of this initiative through its generous support,” said NMU President Fritz Erickson. “We will be able to leverage the new U.P. Cybersecurity Institute on NMU s campus as a shared regional resource for providing career exploration for K-12 school districts, non-credit credentials and cyber certifications to address the workforce gap in this emerging field. The institute also complements NMU s related bachelor s degree program.”

One component of the U.P. Cybersecurity Consortium s initiative involves collaborating with 18 K-12 school districts and four intermediate school districts to expedite students’ career preparation through focused programs and a badging system. Industry professionals will help to develop the curriculum for the competency badges and work through the institute to train teachers in five anchor school districts.

“Those teachers will then be able to train colleagues at smaller districts in their areas, so it s a hub-and-spoke model we envision,” said Steve VandenAvond, vice president of NMU Extended Learning and Community Engagement.

Students will have an opportunity to complete from one to three badges in a series, enabling them to advance to the U.P. Cybersecurity Institute to obtain industry-certified credentials as a pathway to becoming professionals.

At the 2018 Governor ‘s High School Cyber Challenge in Detroit, three of the top 10 teams were from the U.P., and Westwood finished second. Westwood is part of NICE Community Schools, one of the five participating anchor districts. Others are Marquette, Adams Township, Escanaba and Menominee.

Because cybersecurity jobs can be performed remotely from nearly anywhere, NMU and an industry advisory panel are working to create a cybersecurity ecosystem rooted in Marquette that will branch out across the Upper Peninsula.

NMU will help to fund a full-time staff member to coordinate activities at the U.P. Cybersecurity Institute. The Marshall Plan for Talent Innovation Grants will also support a portion of that cost, along with curriculum creation, professional development for teachers, stipends for industry mentors, endorsement/certification fees and equipment for the institute and anchor school districts.