Category Archives: IET Events

NOVA Cybersecurity Team Finalists at Mid-Atlantic CCDC

Congratulations to the NOVA Cybersecurity team that placed 7th in qualifying for the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC). Under the leadership of NOVA Cyber Faculty Kwabena Konadu and William McLaughlin, NOVA students Marijane Dicello (captain), Ardian Peach (co-captain), Ho Lee, Kiran Sameem (pictured above) and Tharwat Ghet, Jonathan Kim, and Obaid Rahman Sabori (not pictured) will advance to the MACCDC regional championship on April 2nd and 3rd.

Click Here for our Cybersecurity promo video featuring NOVA students.

Click Here for more info on NOVA’s Cybersecurity Program

The MACCDC is presented by Raytheon Intelligence & Space and run by the National CyberWatch Center.  It provides a unique experience for higher education students to test their knowledge and skills in a competitive environment.  The competition focuses on the operational aspects of managing and protecting an existing network infrastructure. The NOVA team prepared for the competition the entire semester by working through challenging problems in the areas of computer and network design, forensics, system configuration, and infrastructure protection.

The competition focuses more on operational task of assuming administrative and protective duties for an existing commercial infrastructure.  Groups of students from different universities and colleges in the Mid-Atlantic Region were assessed based on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, maintain availability of existing services such as mail servers, database servers, web server, respond to business requests such as the addition or removal of additional services, and balance security needs against business operational requirements.

This year (2021), NOVA is among the 8 Qualifying MACCDC Round Finalists which includes the following 4 year colleges and universities: George Mason University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Liberty University, University of Pittsburgh, Old Dominion University, Millersville University, and Capitol Technology University.

NOVA placed 7th out of the 23 colleges and universities below.

Qualifying Round Teams 

  1. Bowie State University, MD
  2. Capitol Technology University, MD
  3. Christopher Newport University, VA
  4. Community College of Baltimore County, MD
  5. East Carolina University, NC
  6. George Mason University, VA
  7. James Madison University, VA
  8. Liberty University, VA
  9. Marshall University, WV
  10. Millersville University, PA
  11. Northern Virginia Community College, VA
  12. Old Dominion University, VA
  13. Rutgers University, NJ
  14. Saint Vincent College, PA
  15. The Penn State University, PA
  16. The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, VA
  17. Towson University, MD
  18. University of Maryland Baltimore County, MD (2 teams)
  19. University of Maryland College Park, MD
  20. University of Maryland Global Campus, MD
  21. University of Pittsburgh, PA
  22. University of Virginia, VA (2 teams)
  23. West Virginia University, WV

NVCC Students/Team Members

Marijane Dicello: Captain
Ardian Peach: Co-Captain
Romaric Agondohoui
Tharwat Ghet
Jonathan Kim
Ho Lee
Obaid Rahman Sabori
Kiran Sameem

Team Judge, Coaches, and Management

Evelyn Adu-Gyamfi: CCDC Judge (Volunteer)
Michael Hancock:  Coach/Executive Director, AllCyber.org/Professor (Volunteer)
Tyrone Guiden:  Coach/Deputy Executive Director, AllCyber.org (Volunteer)
Kwabena Konadu (KK):   Coach/Management/NOVA Professor
William McLaughlin (Mac):  Coach/Management/NOVA Professor

Team Trainers

Bishnu Karki:  Director of Training, AllCyber.org (Volunteer)
Tyler Quigley:  Red Team Captain/Director of Engineering, AllCyber.org (Volunteer)
Jessica Lee:  Blue Team Trainer (Volunteer)

Sources/Links: https://maccdc.org/competition/

 

IET Student and Parent Zoom Session 7/30

We’re connecting this week with IET students about their interest in NOVA and the IET program in general.  

On Thursday, July 30 (11am-12pm), Dr. Chad Knights, Provost of Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA) Information and Engineering Technologies (IET) division and his leadership team will host an informative Zoom session with current IT, Cybersecurity and Engineering Technology students as well as any students that have shown interest in college-wide IET programs. Parents and guardians of students are also welcome to join the session.

Dr. Knights and his team will explore options and resources available for you at NOVA and answer your questions. This is a follow-up to successful chats with students, parents and guardians that our president, Dr. Anne Kress, held in May.

Among the topics they will discuss are:

  • Program Options at NOVA
  • NOVA’s Six Options for the Fall
  • Financial Aid and Payment Plans
  • Transfer from NOVA to the College of Your Choice
  • Employment Opportunities

>> Please click here to register in advance. You’ll receive the Zoom link for the chat once registered.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday. Stay safe!

Fab Lab – Upcoming Workshops

WORKSHOPS: 

Code & Operate a Mini Robotic Car! – March 16
Participants will learn to program and operate a small robotic car.  Activities include use of different sensors (ultrasonic, IR, color), line-following, and driver versus autonomous control.

Laser Cutting & Engraving – March 17 & April 7
Participants will learn how to use a laser system to cut and engrave acrylic and glass.  Participants will be able to keep the items they make, including an engraved drinking glass.  For beginners.

Intro to 3D Design & Printing – March 21
Would you like to learn how to draw and 3D print a design? Do you have no to little experience with CAD (computer aided design) software and 3D printing?  If so, then this is the class for you!

Creating Prototypes & Solving Design Challenges – March 24
Participants will learn to use various machinery (3D printer, plastic forming center, wire bender, etc.) and a CAD (computer aided design) software program to solve design challenges.

Arduino & Raspberry Pi – March 24 & 31
Participants will learn how to build circuits with Arduino and how to build their very own website using Raspberry Pi.  This workshop is intended for beginners with no experience.

Mother’s Day Gift Making – April 29
Use your creativity and some technology to create a Mother’s Day gift at the NOVA Fab Lab!  We will help you design and personalize a gift using one of our 3D printers.  No 3D printing experience necessary.

>> Click here for more details and to register for workshops

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Community Open House – March 14
Open to the public with free hands-on activities for all age levels!  Click here to Register

Thursday Demo Nights
Each Thursday we will be giving an overview and demonstration on how a specific piece (or group) of fabrication equipment works.  Register here

 

Interviewing Skills Workshops in March

NOVA SySTEMic is hosting Interviewing Skills Workshops, led by The Career Engineer® (TCE), for STEM and CTE Majors as well as students enrolled in IT, Business, and Health Care programs. TCE can help increase your career confidence and impact your chance to land your dream job! Students will have the opportunity to participate in interview simulation activities and learn how to successfully get through an interview. Participants receive early entry to the IET Career Fair on April 3, 2020 at the NOVA Annandale Campus.

Where and When?

March 24th
10am Annandale Campus
3pm Loudoun Campus

March 25th
10am Manassas Battleview
3pm MEC Springfield Campus

March 26th
10am Alexandria Campus
3pm Woodbridge Campus

IET Job Fair – April 3

NOVA IET is hosting a Job Fair at the NOVA Annandale Campus on Friday, April 3, from 10-3pm.

The IET Job Fair is for current NOVA students and alumni who are majoring in or are interested in a career  in the IT, Engineering Technologies, or IT related fields. We expect to have companies from every field represented within IT and Engineering Technologies participating in the Job Fair.

Pre-register for the Job Fair here.

Companies participating in the IET Job Fair so far are:
Apex Systems
PRISM Inc.
Ridgeline
General Dynamics Information Technology
Arlington County Government
Aegis.net INC
GovSmart, Inc
Red River
Zeneth Technology Partners
GCyber, LLC
B & A

This list is still growing, so check here for updates.

Data Week DC at NOVA

NOVA will be hosting a Data Week DC event on October 2nd at the Loudoun campus from 1pm to 5pm. This is a free event for students, instructors, and professionals interested in Data Science! Attendees will learn about NOVA offerings relating to big data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud, STEM, Workforce Development, and data center operations.

Activities/Topics will include:

Hands-on data visualization exercise/demo (laptops provided)
Utilizing the Cloud for Data Storage
Story Time
Optimized Data Center Tour
Professional Networking

>> Register for Data Week here

General Info about Data Week DC across the region:
Data Week DC will take place October 1-5 at venues all over our region.  During this time, our data community (meet-ups, higher ed, non-profits and corporations) will produce events addressing data science topics of interest to the communities that they serve.  Think of it as a crowd-sourced 5-day conference led by our data community in the spirit of SXSW.  We are still in the early stages of rolling this out, but early indicators are incredibly positive and the coalition is growing quickly.

More info at www.dataweekdc.com