Students interested in spending the summer working on technology innovations that make a difference will be inspired by University of Â鶹´«Ã½ graduate Bryan Tanaka, who spent his summer of 2017 as an intern for , a business management consulting firm.

During his internship, Tanaka was part of a team that built autonomous cars applying blockchain technology to secure vehicle-to-vehicle communications, as well as device-to-device communications.

After completing his internship, Tanaka was hired at Booz Allen, where he has helped coach the company’s 2018 summer games teams in Honolulu and has been using technology developed by the interns in his day-to-day job.

2019 summer games applicants

The Booz Allen summer games is an innovative internship program that attracts some of the nation’s best and brightest students. This competitive and collaborative program draws thousands of applicants for several hundred slots.

Interns receive mentorship from senior leaders, collaborate and experiment in an innovative ecosystem and solve problems using Booz Allen’s products and unique engagement models. Simulating a real-world startup accelerator environment, the interns are divided into teams, each working on a different challenge.

“I got to work on a ton of different things and was given an opportunity to really find what I am passionate about,” said Tanaka. “In a short amount of time I’ve been able to work on blockchain, big data analytics, data science and cybersecurity. Every project has been something new and exciting and I have been able to grow because of it, immediately after my internship.”

Tanaka graduated from in 2016 with an associate degree in computing, electronics and networking technology and finished at in 2017 with a bachelor degree focused on applied science in information security and assurance. “Shout-out to both programs for providing such a great education!” said Tanaka.

Throughout the 10-week Booz Allen summer games students across the country compete to solve tough, client-focused challenges. Previous challenges have included developing a disaster evacuation model, exploring a technological solution for a mobile grocery store and harnessing data science to tackle public health issues.

“Students should apply if they want to work on technology innovations with great mentors,” said Tanaka. “It provides you with an internship that will allow growth in both technical and soft skills. Also, I have met some of the nicest people here at Booz Allen.”

2018 summer games intern challenge teams

Booz Allen hosted two 2018 summer games intern challenge teams in the Honolulu office consisting of nine students from UH Mānoa and one student from Â鶹´«Ã½ Pacific University.

One team partnered with the Bishop Museum to develop Hoʻomanao, an augmented reality (AR) application bringing Hawaiian culture to life.

“We created an educational AR app for museum-goers at Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum,” said Angela Hong, a 2018 summer games intern. “Our app showcases native Hawaiian culture and focuses on the feather cloak—or ʻahuʻula—and how it represents the Hawaiian cultural value of environmental stewardship. In the game, users create their own feather cloaks in AR, learning about its cultural significance.”

The second team focused on TheHive project, an open source application for cyber incident handling. TheHive helps cybersecurity staff during their investigations of cybersecurity incidents, like breaches, by organizing their findings, research, tracking actions and storing indicators of compromise.

It can make for quite a summer vacation. “Work hard at what you are passionate about, help others and share that passion with others,” said Tanaka.

To apply for the 2019 summer games at the Honolulu office, go to the .

students competing in a seven-state online contest with more than 3,000 contestants represented the campus well, with six winning scholarships, and two placing in the top 100 contestants.

The students were competing in , a cyber security assessment and exercise that tests student aptitude and helps develop skills. The game was developed by the SANS Institute, a leading provider of cyber security training and certifications for professionals working in government and commercial institutions.

UH West Oʻahu students Marvin Buenafe and Edward Chang, placed in the top 100 contestants and won scholarships. Robert Kuakini, Derrick Le, Kevin Ryan and Catherine Sarte also earned scholarship awards.

“The CENT (Computing, Electronics and Networking Technology) and ISA (Information Security and Assurance) classes that I’ve taken from UHWO and have given me valuable information, such as introducing different sub-fields and focus courses related to cyber security,” said Buenafe, who finished 87 out of the 3,935 people that signed up.

Â鶹´«Ã½ students, ages 16 and above, competed with counterparts in Delaware, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island and Virginia in the CyberStart exercises. A report to Gov. David Ige shows Â鶹´«Ã½ had a larger number of high scorers and scholarship winners on a per capita basis compared to other states.

Read more at .

—By Greg Wiles

is providing enrichment opportunities to train the youngest generation of cybersecurity professionals and teachers through its summer camps. This year, 147 students and 195 teachers participated in GenCyber ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± high school and middle school camps on °¿Ê»²¹³ó³Ü, Maui County, ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Island and °­²¹³Ü²¹Ê»¾± that began on June 5 at .

Participants learned about cyber hygiene, networking, basic forensics and classical and modern cryptographic systems. They also learned about and implemented the stages of a cyber attack and how to control a robotic car using computer code.

This year the °¿Ê»²¹³ó³Ü camp incorporated the similarities between voyaging and cybersecurity such as planning, charting a course into the unknown, observing the environment (e.g., wind, birds, sky), looking for anomalies, contingency planning and anticipating things that cannot be seen.

These skills were put to the test in a grand challenge scavenger hunt that incorporated coded clues that participants had to solve using cybersecurity concepts, tools and skills learned during the week with a wayfinding focus in honor of the homecoming of the ±áÅ�°ìÅ«±ô±ðÊ»²¹ from her World Wide Voyage.

During the closing ceremony, participants and their families heard from National Security Agency Vice Commander Anastasia Borichevsky, and University of ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Vice President for Information Technology/CIO on the strategic importance on cultivating cybersecurity professionals in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±. There was also a mini career fair where parents and students learned more about career opportunities in the cybersecurity industry.

See more images from the GenCyber ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± camp at Honolulu CC’s Flickr site.

Growing the next generation

The primary purpose of the GenCyber program is to grow the next generation of cybersecurity experts in the state and nation. The goals of GenCyber are to increase interest in cybersecurity careers and diversity in the cybersecurity workforce and to help all students understand correct and safe on-line behavior and improve teaching methods for delivering cybersecurity content for K–12 curricula.

This is GenCyber ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±â€™s third year in existence and is on track to complete 18 teacher camps representing 549 teachers trained and 11 student camps representing 390 students trained across the state. Some GenCyber student completers have gone on to college to pursue computer science and cybersecurity programs, and secured internships in cybersecurity.

The GenCyber program is a vital component of ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±â€™s Cybersecurity Education and Workforce Development Strategic plan which directly supports the ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± of the Strategic Directions of the University of ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±.

The Cybersecurity Education Workforce Development Strategic plan is focused on:

• Promoting a deeper awareness and understanding of cyber threats specific to ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± and ensuring that students are job ready upon graduation and successful in securing cybersecurity jobs in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±.
• Developing a clear education and workforce pathway to cyber and cybersecurity professions and the state’s vision of expanding computer science for all in our Department of Education school system for elementary, middle and high school students.
• Increasing the number of high school students who earn college credit in computer science and cybersecurity.
• Increasing professional development opportunities for teachers in computer science and cybersecurity.

—By Billie Lueder

A team of students from ’s (CENT) and the program at tied for first place in the (HACC). Founded at Honolulu CC, the team, called Â鶹´«Ã½ Advanced Technology Society (HATS), won $5,000 and the opportunity to interview with and .

HACC was the culmination of the month-long, hackathon-inspired competition designed to engage the local tech community in the modernization of Â鶹´«Ã½ state government. The judging and awards ceremony was held on September 24 at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. The winning project, , provides a sustainable and organized web-based solution for family and friend visitations at the facility.

“Many of our students put an average of 30 hours into the project, with key contributors putting an upwards of 60-80 hours over the course of the last three weeks,” said HATS Lead Project Manager Jayson Hayworth. “We came together as a team to implement and interface three different components of the project to fit the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center Visitation Scheduling’s business needs.”

He continues, “The CENT program gives us a strong foundation to be able to accomplish anything we set our minds towards. The curriculum encourages self-learning and self-discipline while giving students the foundation needed to explore other advanced topics. I think I speak for all of our team members when I say none of this is possible without the entire CENT faculty.”

Twenty-seven teams presented solutions to the HACC judges panel, which included Governor , Senator , state Chief Information Officer (CIO) and UH Vice President of Information Technology and CIO Garret Yoshimi. Solutions were judged on originality, design, sustainability, utility and impact, team collaboration, presentation and delivery, with bonus points for audience’s top choice.

The HACC is the result of collaboration across public and private sectors.

—By Billie Lueder

For the fourth year in a row, a team of students from Honolulu Community College and the University of Â鶹´«Ã½–West Oʻahu placed within the top three of the At Large Regional of the national Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (ALCCDC). The University of Alaska at Anchorage was this year’s winner of the ALCCDC, with Honolulu CC–UH West Oʻahu finishing second, followed by Penn State, which came in third. The national Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which was first held in 2005, is considered the “Big Dance” of collegiate cybersecurity competitions.

The team consists of Brayton Acoba, Marvin Buenafe, Gerome Catbagan, Kenneth Dedicatoria, Derrick Le, Kevin Ryan, CJ Ulep and Sharey Vendiola.

“These students put in a tremendous amount of hours to the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. They performed extremely well. I couldn’t be prouder of what we have accomplished together,” says coach Jason Hayworth, a Honolulu CC–UH West Oʻahu CENT student.

The driving force for cybersecurity competitions is the need to train a new generation of cybersecurity professionals.

“I am very proud of the performance put forward by our students. Not only did they display the technical expertise needed to perform the indicated tasks, they displayed teamwork and professionalism which are the cornerstone skills required for our nation to securely thrive in cyberspace,” shares Aaron Tanaka, Honolulu CC CENT professor.

More on the Honolulu CC–UH West Oʻahu program

The Honolulu CC–UH West Oʻahu team consisted of students who are concurrently taking courses in the Computing, Electronics and Networking Technologies (CENT) program at Honolulu Community College and the CENT and Information Security Assurance programs at UH West Oʻahu.

The two colleges feature an articulation agreement where students take their first two years of coursework at Honolulu CC, share a third year of courses at both campuses, and complete their coursework at UH West Oʻahu, where they earn a bachelors of applied science degree in CENT or ISA.

—By Billie Lueder

A team of students from the (CENT) program at placed 4th in the fall 2015 competition.

A total of 129 teams from more than 80 colleges and universities throughout the nation competed. The National Cyber League was first run in 2011 with a vision to “provide an ongoing virtual training group for collegiate students to develop, practice and validate their cybersecurity skills using next-generation high-fidelity simulation environments.”

CENT Professor Aaron Tanaka used the National Cyber League competition to enhance an ethical hacking course. Three teams were formed using students from this class, along with three additional students who competed in the 2014 National Cyber League.

The three teams were Honolulu CC–CENT, Honolulu CC-HATS and Honolulu CC-Makai. All three teams performed well, with Honolulu CC–CENT placing fourth in the nation.

The members of the Honolulu CC–CENT team are team captain, Jayson Hayworth, Taylor Kina, Kevin Ryan, Eric Kotake, Ahloy Chang, Derrick Le and Nathn Fiesta. The team captains for the other two teams are Gerome Catbagan (Honolulu CC-HATS), and Chance Kawasaki (Honolulu CC-Makai).

Honolulu CC–CENT team captain Hayworth provided a student reflection of his experience.

“The strongest impact this challenge had on the teams was the ability to demonstrate how effective working together can be,” said Hayworth. “It became extremely obvious how quickly we were able to blow through challenges when we were able to work in pairs and apply multiple minds to the same problem.”

“The entire challenge was a huge roller coaster ride for our team,” continued Hayworth. “It was an absolutely amazing experience that had us go from being absolutely ecstatic and screaming in the middle of the night to being completely lost and dazed in a mirage of bits and bytes. Our students can’t wait for the next years games—we’ll be utilizing everything we’ve learned here and sharing it with all CENT students for the benefit of the program.”

Honolulu CC’s CENT program is a for Two-Year Education.

For the full story, read the Honolulu CC’s .

—By Billie Lueder

received its re-designation as a (CAE2Y IA/CD) at the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education held in Las Vegas, Nevada this summer. Honolulu CC is now one of only 31 junior and community colleges nationwide to hold this distinction.

The CAE2Y IA/CD program, which is jointly sponsored by the (NSA) and the , recognizes colleges and universities that have met their standard of excellence, in providing quality cybersecurity awareness, training and education to the community.

Honolulu CC’s (CENT) Program Coordinator, Sally Dunan and Technical Coordinator Aaron Tanaka accepted the honor at the national awards ceremony. “Having the CAE2Y designation has opened the door to key industry partnerships that our students and the program will greatly benefit from,” shares Tanaka.

More about the CENT program

In July, Honolulu CC partnered with the NSA, , , , , and the , in hosting the first ever Gencyber camp. The camp was attended by 59 high school students and 28 high school teachers from Â鶹´«Ã½ with one high school student attending from Texas.

• – July 20, 2015

As part of Honolulu CC’s continued mission to be a premiere technology training center, the CENT program has partnered with the to offer a bachelors of applied science degree in that was launched in the fall 2013 semester.

—By Billie Lueder

A team of students from the (CENT) program at finished 7th in the nation in the gold division of the fall 2014 season of the (NCL). The team was anchored by Honolulu CC students Eric Kotake who placed 3rd, Taylor Kina who placed 76th and Joe Lee who placed 103rd overall out of 822 national competitors.

The National Cyber League is a cybersecurity competition that runs in a similar fashion to a collegiate athletic event. Students participating in the competition are provided with an online virtual gymnasium to practice their cyber skills and an online stadium in which the competitions are run in. There are three brackets—novice (bronze), intermediate (silver) and experienced players (gold).

“We’re proud of all the players from over 145 colleges and universities that competed in the NCL season,” states Casey O’Brien, commissioner of the National Cyber League. “In addition to working through customized content in the NCL gyms, these students had to rigorously demonstrate knowledge and skills based on various industry-recognized performance objectives.”  

A second Honolulu CC team, HCC-Makai, also competed in the fall 2014 NCL season and finished 17th in the bronze division.

At Honolulu Community College, CENT Professor Aaron Tanaka used the NCL gym exercises and the NCL competition to enhance a CENT course on ethical hacking.

“At Honolulu CC we are strong advocates of hands-on learning and really appreciate the interactive and dynamic nature of NCLM/abbr>. We feel that just by participating in the competition, all our students gained in their quest of becoming cybersecurity professionals,” shares Tanaka.

—By Billie Lueder

It’s not every day that a student from Â鶹´«Ã½ has the opportunity to learn from engineers and programmers, but for student Jasmine Hoapili, that dream came true. During the first week of December 2014 she had the honor of participating in the program organized by NASA.

“I became an instant rock star as the only student out of 28 from Â鶹´«Ã½,” shares Hoapili. “Participating in the program opened my eyes and changed my perception of work that NASA does for our country.”

Once accepted into the program, Hoapili participated in an intense online course for five weeks in preparation for her onsite experience at the in Pasadena, California. During her experience, the students were split up into four groups of nine individuals working in a team environment to plan a mission to Mars.

“We all had to select a job we had to fulfill on our team. I was the programmer in which my job was to write a program that would instruct the robot to collect samples on Mars,” Hoapili explained.

The Computing, Electronics, Networking Technology (CENT) major had to meet certain criteria to be considered for the program, which included being a registered community college student for either the summer and fall semesters, have at least a cumulative of 9 hours in a STEM discipline and committing 12 to 14 weeks working with NASA.

One of Hoapili’s English instructors had this to say about her: “She is a problem solver who is not afraid of trying. I wasn’t surprised when Jasmine told me she was selected for NASA’s program. Her determination and willingness to work hard and take risks earned her this opportunity. She is a great role model for Honolulu CC students.”

In addition to being a NASA Scholar, she is an active member of the Team Â鶹´«Ã½ Robotics Club based at Honolulu CC and has competed in the Nagoya Micro Robot Maze Competition. She is an ʻIKE Scholar, a University of Â鶹´«Ã½ Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative supporting Hawaiian students interested in a career path in engineering, and she also completed an internship with the Akamai Workforce Initiative at the in Kula, Maui.

“I am so grateful to Team Â鶹´«Ã½ Robotics advisor Mr. Norman Takeya and Ms. Tasha Kawamata Ryan with the ʻIKE Scholars program for encouraging me to apply for this opportunity!”

Hoapili plans on continuing her education in the field of mechanical engineering.

—By Billie Lueder

received recognition as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance 2-Year Education (CAE2Y) at the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education held this summer in Mobile, Alabama. Honolulu CC is the only college in the state of Â鶹´«Ã½ to hold this designation, and joins the ranks of 33 other junior and community colleges nationwide.

“We are honored to receive the CAE2Y recognition that was given to Honolulu Community College,” shares Sally Dunan, program coordinator for the program at Honolulu CC, who represented the college at the national awards ceremony.

The CAE2Y program, jointly sponsored by the and the , recognizes colleges and universities that have demonstrated a commitment to providing quality information assurance awareness, training and education. The CAE2Y designation not only provides recognition to the campus, but also opens the door for students to obtain federal scholarships and for the college to attain grant funding.

Honolulu’s application to become a CAE2Y was anchored by the Computing, Electronics and Networking Technology program on the credit side and by the on the non-credit side. 

“Going through the process of applying to become a CAE2Y was a great exercise for the college. It brought awareness that our institution is well equipped to support quality cybersecurity training and be a center of support to the community on cybersecurity issues,” said Professor Aaron Tanaka, technical coordinator for the Computing, Electronics and Networking Technology program. This past summer Honolulu CC hosted a CyberPatriot boot camp for high school coaches and mentors on the CyberPatriot program and on cybersecurity.

The Computing, Electronics and Networking Technology program at Honolulu CC also partnered with the to offer a bachelors of applied science in information security assurance. The program was launched in the fall 2013 semester with information security courses being offered at both campuses.

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