Las Cruces – Doña Ana Community College (DACC) instructors Robert Doyle and Gustavo Piña have been appointed as members of the National CyberWatch Center’s Curriculum Standards Panel.
The ultimate goal of the Panel is to protect the United States from cyber threats and increase the reliability and effectiveness of the computing infrastructure critical to national security.
The organization is creating national standards for teaching cyber security at community colleges and universities through a grant of the National Science Foundation. CyberWatch Center is a consortium of universities, colleges, businesses, and government agencies working together to advance information security education & research and strengthen the national cybersecurity workforce.
“Our highly qualified instructors are an integral part of our student’s success,” said Saundra Castillo, Dean of Advanced Technologies at DACC. “These appointments highlight the accomplished nature of our faculty and the role they will play in helping the nation create more qualified cybersecurity professionals.”
Doyle and Piña were appointed after nomination from their peers and a review process by the National CyberWatch Center.
Doyle has been an instructor in Computer and Information Technology at DACC since 2003. Last year Doyle was also selected for the 2015 Cisco Certified Network Associate Instructor Curriculum Specialist Award for the United States and Canada. Piña has been teaching at the community college since 2011. He has several professional certifications and was awarded as a DACC Rising Star. He also serves on the advisory board of the national cybersecurity student association.
The DACC instructors will be assigned to one or more working groups. They will participate in scheduled weekly online discussions, contribute to accomplishment of the session objectives and review final results of the sessions. The Panel is the first of several planned initiatives from the Center to produce credentialing solutions to increase the number of capable cybersecurity professionals.
Above: Doyle (l) and Pina (r) help a student.