'A model of collaboration between CNY colleges'

This past weekend, Mohawk Valley Community College welcomed cybersecurity students from regional colleges to its campus in Utica for the Central New York Hackathon, an intercollegiate cybersecurity competition designed to improve the state of computer science and cybersecurity education and more closely align academia with Central New York industry partners.

This year’s participants included about 80 cybersecurity students studying from regional colleges and universities, including MVCC, Utica University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University, and the University at Albany, as well as about 30 high school students who took part in a workshop before joining the competition as “exhibition teams.”

“The CNY Hackathon is a model of regional collaboration between Central New York colleges, and each of the five main schools contribute to the event and attend every year,” said Jake Mihevc, Dean of MVCC’s School of STEM-Transfer and co-founder of the CNY Hackathon. “One of the unique elements of our event is that we mix the students teams, so they have a chance to learn from students in different cybersecurity programs. It makes for a really great event and is a reflection of how we all collaborate within our regional cybersecurity education community.”

The event kicked off Friday afternoon with virtual presentations, and the competition started at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Students spent the day participating in challenges that tasked them with defending their virtual systems from attacks by local industry professionals. This simulation of actual cybersecurity work provides students with an understanding of their future roles, increases engagement in the classroom, and ultimately turbocharges the workforce readiness of regional cybersecurity graduates.

Hackathon results:

Team 3 won the 2022 CNY Hackathon by defending their systems from Red Team attacks and performing capture-the-flag challenges. The team’s members were Jay Patel, Syracuse University; Michele Maiden, University of Maine; Nathaniel Collins, MVCC; Tyler Lingen, SUNY Polytechnic Institute; Ben Hesel, Utica University; Patrick Uwechue, Utica University; and Carter Iannoti, Utica University. Jay Patel was voted Most Valuable Teammate, and Carter Iannoti was named Most Improved Player.

MVCC and Cybersecurity

Mohawk Valley Community College has been designated by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security as the Regional Resource Center for the Northeast region of the United States. The mission of the Northeast Regional Resource Center is to perform outreach and build relationships with educational institutions in the region, as well as guide candidate colleges in the area on the path to designation as a CAE-CD institution. The College offers an A.S. degree in Cybersecurity, a one-year certificate in Cybersecurity, and GenCyber, a week-long summer program for high school faculty and students, to encourage interest in cybersecurity careers. Learn more about MVCC's cybersecurity programs.