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College Profile: Norfolk State University


Taking a byte out of tech In 2020, one of the most consequential


presidential elections in modern history bumped into an unprecedented pandemic, resulting in record early voter turnout. With an eye on the 2024 election, politi- cal scientists have questioned whether in-person early voting will continue to be a trend. NSU, however, is at the forefront of what future elections may look like. With assistance from a $200,000


Microsoft Impact Grant awarded in fall 2020, NSU faculty and students during the next couple of years will work to develop a potential voting app for mobile phones. To get there, though, will require faculty training, development and testing. The Microsoft Impact Grant funding


will go toward training faculty on the lat- est software systems from Microsoft and other companies. Professors will bring that knowledge back to the classroom to share with students to have them “Day One ready” to work on the project. “One of the challenges that our stu-


dents will have is exposure,” says Aurelia T. Williams, executive director of NSU’s Cybersecurity Complex and interim vice provost for academic administration. “Now that we have all of these additional academic partnerships … our students will be exposed to many more opportunities [in tech].” Even more opportunities will result


from a partnership with tech giant IBM that also came to fruition during the fall 2020 semester. The twofold partner- ship (worth an estimated $6 million) includes access to IBM Global University Programs, an academic initiative for faculty and students, as well as IBM Skills Academy, which will provide training to NSU faculty on topics including artificial intelligence, blockchain, cybersecurity, data science, cloud computing and quantum computing. “These grants don’t just come by


magic,” Adams-Gaston says. “We have rock star groups of faculty and adminis- trators who really get the job done and who really work to help ensure we have these opportunities.” The IBM Global University Program


will offer unlimited access to IBM course materials, tutorials and lectures to faculty and students from NSU and 17 other


66 | FEBRUARY 2021


New partnerships and grants from companies such as Microsoft, Apple and IBM are expanding career exposure opportunities for NSU students, says Aurelia T. Williams, executive director of the university’s Cybersecurity Complex and interim vice provost for academic administration.


HBCUs. Another benefit of NSU’s ongoing partnership with IBM is develop- ing a pipeline for internships and career opportunities. Michael Keeve, dean of NSU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology, stays in touch with IBM rep- resentatives who send out communications regarding job and internship opportunities for NSU students. “It prepares students for the workforce,”


Keeve says. “And it definitely enhances our faculty training, keeping our faculty informed … in terms of what is going on in the workforce.” A continued partnership with the


Sandia National Laboratories also keeps computer science and engineering students apprised of workforce opportunities through a research consortium between the U.S. Department of Energy and HBCUs, which NSU has been involved with since 2015. “The whole preface of that consortium


was that the energy laboratories have diversity issues — and that’s not unknown,” says Williams. “This particular consortium was established to increase the cybersecurity workforce for development pipelines, par- ticularly to the energy laboratories.” The goal of the consortium is to align


NSU’s research with Sandia National Laboratories research so that faculty and students can contribute to national research. Williams and other faculty


members receive listings of available research projects from Sandia and connect students interested in participating. “That becomes a win-win situation


because students now have the opportu- nity to work on research that is important to the federal government [and] receive advice from professionals who are working specifically in the field,” Williams says. “It also presents the opportunity for NSU to work on intellectual property that can really change our research platform.” For additional workforce preparation


this spring semester, up to 130 NSU students and alumni are participating in three online tech boot camps hosted by media streaming giant Netflix. The courses for the 16-week program will focus on Java engineering, UX/UI design and data science. NSU alumnus Michael Chase, a Netflix software engineer, is serving as a mentor to students in the program. “Mr. Chase’s vision is for graduates


from his alma mater to be career-ready with cutting-edge knowledge and skills,” NSU Computer Science Department Chair Claude Turner said in an October 2020 announcement about the Netflix partnership. Additionally, the university in


December 2020 announced a collaboration with Apple Inc.’s Community Education Initiative and Tennessee State University’s HBCU C2 (Coding & Creativity)


Photo by Mark Rhodes


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