Del Mar College Cyber Center
CORPUS CHRISTI (News Release) - On Wednesday, Oct. 30, College administrators with Del Mar College (DMC) and Workforce Development and Corporate Services Department, along with Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend, announced a $200,000 NIST grant was awarded to the DMC Small Business Development Center’s new Cyber Center.
Darcy Shaw, DMC Cyber Center Program Manager, says, “The NIST grant is creating partnerships to promote cybersecurity education and workforce development because cybersecurity professionals are attaining their education, but they are not getting hired. There’s a very large need for cybersecurity professionals not just throughout the country but in our area and across Texas.”
The funds the College received will support NIST’s Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate (RAMPS) initiative in South Texas. NIST seeks to build multistakeholder workforce partnerships among employers, schools and higher education institutions, and other community organizations through its Cybersecurity Education and Workforce Development Program through the funding awarded as part of the RAMPS initiative.
The two key objectives of the DMC Cyber Center are:
Increase cybersecurity planning, awareness and compliance
Add skills to cybersecurity students
To that end, the DMC Cyber Center RAMPS initiative will utilize paid cybersecurity interns (students from DMC and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) to provide planning and training for business owners in the Coastal Bend starting in January. Small and mid-sized businesses are typically more vulnerable to cyber threats due to fewer resources, Shaw says.
Employers and students wanting to participate with the new initiative can access and sign-up on the Cyber Center’s website at https://delmar.edu/cyber-center/index.html.
Shaw notes that the Cyber Center will host clinics for small and mid-sized businesses that utilize undergraduate students from the DMC Department of Computer Science, along with undergraduate and graduate students with TAMU-CC’s Computer Science and Networking and Information Security programs with the College of Engineering and Computer Science, to provide the following services:
Network mapping
Review and guidance with system security plans and recovery plans
Basic cyber hygiene awareness
The College’s Cyber Center will manage South Texas’ initiative, which includes partnerships with Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend, the Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center, QuickStart Business Services, DMC academic programs and TAMU-CC. Additionally, partnerships also include the City of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi B Corporation (Type B Board).
Recently, the Corpus Christi City Council approved a $140,000 grant that also provides funding support for the Cyber Center.
Ken Treviño, Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend CEO, says Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend is honored to partner with Del Mar College’s Cyber Center to open new doors for individuals pursuing cybersecurity careers.
“By expanding access to critical training and connecting businesses with skilled professionals, we’re advancing workforce development across the Coastal Bend and supporting the security needs of industries vital to our region,” Treviño says.
The DMC Cyber Center RAMPS initiative will allow the Cyber Center to serve Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Refugio and San Patricio counties.
Employees looking to expand their skills set will also have the opportunity to pursue “Grow Your Own” cybersecurity education and certification opportunities through the College’s Cisco Certification occupational track paid for by Skills for Small Business grant funds provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.
“We’re uniquely positioned because of Del Mar College’s existing collaborative relationships with the business community, business resource partners, the City of Corpus Christi, Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend and University partners to foster and support cybersecurity students seeking entry into the workforce,” Shaw says. “Leveraging the Cyber Center’s role in assisting small and mid-sized businesses with cybersecurity planning, awareness and certification addresses the needs of students for applied experience and the needs of businesses for cybersecurity professionals.”
NICE, previously known as the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education and overseen by NIST, funds Cyberseek, which is a tool designed for use by employers, educators and students to, provide data on the jobs outlook for the cybersecurity industry. According to Cyberseek analyzed data, only 83 cybersecurity workers were available for every 100 cybersecurity jobs demanded by U.S. employers between September 2023 and August 2024, and there were 457,433 openings that requested cybersecurity-related skills this year (2024).
In Texas, the supply/demand ratio of available cybersecurity jobs relative to employer demand in a particular location is 85%, or 2% more than the national average (83%). The Lone Star State has nearly 37,000 job openings this year according to Cyberseek.
“The need for a skilled cybersecurity workforce continues to grow,” says Shaw. “That’s our mission by offering the new Cyber Center here at Del Mar College by addressing area employers’ needs while giving students pursuing the field the opportunity to find local employment as cybersecurity professionals.”
