FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7, 2018

Contact: DSU Media Relations

Dakota State University, Madison, SD
Phone: 605-256-5027
Email: mediarelations@dsu.edu

Rocket Girls camp to launch girls’ cyber careers

DSU’s CybHER, AT&T to sponsor 16 teenagers at CyberSpace Camp

MADISON, S.D., June 7, 2018 – Sixteen high school junior and senior
girls will have a unique opportunity to launch their cyber careers at the first
ever Rocket Girls CyberSpace camp, being held this summer at Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.

The young women, 14 of whom are from South Dakota, will have the
opportunity to explore digital forensics, programming, cryptography and
many other technology concepts at the two-day camp.

“Our overall CyberSpace Camp mission is to help fuel the imaginations,

confidence and capabilities of these ‘Rocket Girls’ as they begin to explore
their own educational and career futures as leaders and pioneers in cyber
and space,” said Kevin Manson, the camp’s co-founder. The camp
curriculum will focus on online safety, privacy and ethics. Manson, a
native of Watertown, S.D., is a security online community architect who is
retired from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Our CyberSpace Camp launch team has been mightily inspired by pioneering women in cyber, such as the
late Admiral Grace Hopper who named the first computer ‘bug,’ and Katherine Johnson, who was featured in
the book and movie ‘Hidden Figures,’” Manson said.

Other women who have supported the creation of the first CyberSpace camp, and will be attending, include:
Deborah Kobza, the camp co-founder and President/CEO of The Global Institute for Cybersecurity at the
Kennedy Space Center; Dr. Tommie Blackwell from Huntsville, Alabama, the former director of the original
Space Camps; South Dakota native Steph Manson; Dyann Bradbury, an insurance company cybersecurity
executive; Elise Sachs Henry with K Sciences; Cynthia Hetherington, the Hetherington Group; and Dr.
Ashley Podhradsky, associate professor of information assurance and forensics at Dakota State University.

Podhradsky said several cybersecurity professionals with “incredible field experience” have been
instrumental in mentoring CyberSpace camp launch team members, including Derrick Donnelly, chief
scientist at Black Bag Technologies, and former head of IT Security at Apple, and Gordon Angus, creator
and former director of the Miami/Dade County Computer Forensics Lab.

Additional launch team members who will be assisting at the camp include: Bill Cheswick, the first person to
map the internet; Dr. Rick Mislan from the Sanders College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology
(NY); Mark Tobias, an investigative attorney and security specialist with Security.org; and Todd Hillis,
director of cyber intelligence at iThreat Cyber Group.

Podhradsky will provide teaching experience at the camp; she and Dr. Pam Rowland, assistant professor of
computer science/cybersecurity, have been volunteering their expertise with event organization. The DSU
faculty members are co-directors of the DSU’s annual GenCyber Girls summer camp, the largest residential
all-girls camp in the nation.

DSU’s CybHER program is one of the sponsors for the Rocket Girls camp. CybHER is an outreach program
founded by Podhradsky and Rowland. Its mission is to empower, motivate, educate and change the
perception of women and girls in cybersecurity fields. AT&T is providing for travel and lodging for the
Rocket Girls.

“AT&T is fortunate to work with wonderful collaborators like Dakota State University on innovative STEM-
related programs such as CybHER and Rocket Girls,” said Cheryl Riley, president, AT&T Northern Plains.
“Helping students, particularly young women, develop the skills they need to succeed in 21 st century careers
is a critical step to building the diverse workforce we need to power our company—and our country—for the
future. Dakota State University has a track record of success, and this funding will allow them to provide
students with the opportunity to thrive,” Riley stated.

Rocket Girls camp will also provide additional outreach opportunities for the young women. “Before the
camp, we will be meeting by phone once a week to talk about curriculum,” Podhradsky said, “such as
cryptography, forensics, or security concepts.” After the July event, they will reach out to campers with
monthly calls, alternating between webinars, and a hands-on activities challenge, such as rebuilding a cell
phone from a kit, and working with a Raspberry Pi (a small computer).

Plans are in the works to make it an annual event. For more information on the camps, visit
https://cyberspacecamps.org/; for more information on CybHER, go to https://www.cybher.org/.

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ROCKET GIRLS – DSU’s CybHER outreach program and AT&T are partnering with CyberSpace Camps to host
a two-day event at the Kennedy Space Center. Sixteen girls will attend the July event. DSU faculty Dr. Pam
Rowland (left) and Dr. Ashley Podhradsky, co-founders of CybHER, are helping organize the event.

Dakota State University is a public university located in Madison, S.D. DSU offers technology-intensive and technology-
infused degrees in a variety of majors, from the associate to the doctoral level. Strategic partnerships with governmental
entities and corporations have bolstered DSU’s position as a technologically forward-thinking institution. Both online and on-
campus programs have been recognized for their quality, affordability, and graduates’ job placement records, which are 100
percent for several majors. Enrollment for Fall 2017 was 3,307. For more information, contact Jane Utecht, Strategic
Communications Coordinator at mediarelations@dsu.edu, 605-256-5027, or visit the DSU website at dsu.edu.