University of New Orleans professor Golden Richard has received a $105,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency to expand his intensive cybersecurity training course for high school teachers.

University of New Orleans professor Golden Richard has received a $105,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency to expand his intensive cybersecurity training course for high school teachers. The funding will allow Richard to train 20 teacher participants, five more than in the program’s first year.

The 2015 program, which will be held July 20-31 at the University of New Orleans, is free of charge to invited participants, and includes lodging, travel and meals.

The goals of the program are to increase cybersecurity awareness and expertise among high school teachers, to help integrate cybersecurity topics into high school coursework, to increase cybersecurity awareness among students, and to boost enrollment in cybersecurity programs at the college level.

“Teachers who attend can expect to significantly deepen their knowledge of cybersecurity and to prepare them to transition what they learn into their own classrooms,” said Richard, a professor of computer science and director of the Greater New Orleans Center for Information Assurance at UNO. “There is a clear need for increasing the number of high school students interested in cybersecurity in order to meet huge demands for well-trained professionals in both the public and private sectors.”

UNO is the only university in Louisiana that is designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations by the National Security Agency.