Call for Proposal for Local Hosting National Women in Cybersecurity Conference 2016

Transcription

1 Call for Proposal for Local Hosting National Women in Cybersecurity Conference 2016 Project Background The Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Initiative was launched with the help of a National Science Foundation grant (Award # , Lead PI: Ambareen Siraj, Faculty at Computer Science at Tennessee Tech University/TTU). Since 2014, WiCyS has become a continuing effort to recruit, retain and advance women in cybersecurity. It brings together women (students/faculty/researchers/professionals) in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry for sharing of knowledge/experience, networking and mentoring. Beyond the annual conference, WiCyS is a community of engagement, encouragement and support for women in cybersecurity. WiCyS Conference Each year, WiCyS conference takes place in the March/April timeframe. The beginning and end of the conference are devoted to affiliated workshops (about 3 to 4 each day). The main conference spans 1.5 to 2 days (contingent upon funding), with plenary sessions for keynotes at major meals. Additionally, there are two distinguished speakers sessions each day for 3 parallel tracks in industry/education/research. The main conference also includes various technical workshops, student poster session, speed mentoring session, technical sessions, panel discussions, birds-of-a-feather sessions, lightning talks, career and graduate school fair, and resume clinic. Some Characteristics of WiCyS Conference Program: Registration costs are subsidized at a low rate for attendees (especially students and faculty). Please refer to the conference web site for examples of registration costs for past conferences. Lodging is provided for most students and faculty free of charge. All meals are provided free of charge over the duration of the conference to all attendees. Program is a balanced mix of technical and non-technical sessions to attract various interests of attendees from all categories: education, research and industry. Please refer to the conference web site for examples of agendas/programs for past conferences.

2 WiCyS Funding and Partnerships: WiCyS is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation. Facebook has become a strategic partner since WiCyS is annually supported by many other partners from industry and academia. The funds are managed by Tennessee Tech University and sub-contracted to a local host annually in order to maximize conference exposure to students in all regions of the United States, to engage more cybersecurity professionals/educators in the conference process, and to bring new insights for conference organization. Any funds collected each year that are not spent that year, automatically rolls over to the next year to be used for the next conference WiCyS Committee Chair: Ambareen Siraj from Tennessee Tech University serves as the Founding Chair of WiCyS. Co-Chair: Each year two co-chairs will be selected from the academic institution which hosts WiCyS. Steering Committee: Consists of several leaders in this field (invited) to oversee selection of WiCyS host institution each year. Their guidance helps move WiCyS forward. Steering committee membership term is three years and is renewable. Advisory committee: Consists of several experts in this field (invited) to guide planning of WiCyS conference every year. The membership term is one year and is renewable. Planning committee: Consists of volunteers from the WiCyS community to help in organizing annual WiCyS. Co-Chairs from local host institution selects the committee from a pool of volunteers. The teams are: Program committee Research lab liaison Scholarship committee CAE liaison Poster session committee SFS liaison Workshop committee Professional organization liaison Sponsorship committee CISSE liaison Speed mentoring session committee Industry liaison Outreach committee Government agency liaison Career fair committee Community college liaison Logistics committee Social media coordinator

3 Hosting WiCyS: Although overall conference management will be administered by TTU as a continuation of the NSF project, however to enable WiCyS to move across the USA, each year we will be looking for passionate and dedicated educators from 4-year academic institutions to take up the opportunity of partnering with us by becoming the local host of the conference. Local hosting means the institution will be primarily responsible for arranging the conference logistics (hotel booking, conference facility, onsite registration, conference bags/swags, food and room management). Also, the co-chair(s) from the selected institution will provide feedback to the conference chair in overall management of the conference. Benefits of local hosting include (but not limited to): opportunity to collaborate in a NSF project; visibility in the cybersecurity community; reputation in commitment towards diversity in cybersecurity; opportunity to network with professionals/educators; exposure of students to professionals/educators, etc. The WiCyS project will bear all direct costs associated with conference logistics and will be subcontracted to the institution selected to be a local host. All primary decisions regarding the conference (for example, date, time, venue) would need to be approved by the Chair and members of the planning committee. The local host institution will receive complementary WiCyS passes (including registration, lodging and meals) for the hosting team (faculty/staff/students). In addition, travel stipends will be given to two faculty for travels to benefit/promote the conference. If you and your institution are interested in hosting WiCyS, please submit a formal proposal for steering committee review to [email protected] Proposal Organization: The proposal to host the annual national conference must cover each of the following elements: Proposed Date of the conference (Late March/Early April) Proposed Location of the conference (City name, State, Conference Venue) o Location should be selected with satisfactory airport connectivity and such that it offers complementary shuttle service to/from the airport. The tentative venue should have adequate conference facility. Host Institution Strength o Please explain why you and your institution should be selected to host WiCyS.

4 Institutional support (in terms of how many faculty/staff/students will be able to devote their time in the project) o Please estimate and if possible, provide a list all faculty, staff and students who will be able to volunteer in this project. A support letter from the departmental chairperson/dean/center Director must accompany the proposal. Institutional budget (if any): o Please denote if your institution will contribute any monetary support towards this effort and detail that support. Estimated attendance: o Please denote the number of attendees for whom you are expecting to make arrangements. Human Resource support: o Please denote the Co-Chair(s) and team for the conference, who will be: responsible for the primary tasks as Local Host such as hotel booking, conference facility, onsite registration, conference bags/swags, food and room management, etc. provide feedback/advice to the WiCyS Committee Chair on overall conference management such as planning committee selection, speaker selection, conference website and conference program. Estimated Timeline: o Please provide a rough timeline of how you plan to host the event. For example, by when do you plan to contact hotels, get bid out, select hotel, and such other activities until day of the event. Plan for advertisement/promotion: o Please explain how you plan to promote and advertise this event in and outside of your network. Plan for sponsorship solicitation: o Collecting sponsor funds for the conference is a continuing process. Although as a subawardee, your organization will receive some funding from the project at Tennessee Tech, it is essential for the viability of this initiative to keep looking for additional support. Please explain how you plan to solicit sponsoring partnerships. All sponsor funds will be collected through the project account at Tennessee Tech.

5 Please submit the proposal along with a support letter from your institution and the CV of the proposer that details personal qualifications and a description of any conference/workshop organization experience. Deadline: submit to [email protected] by June 10, 2015 The factors to be taken into consideration by the Steering Committee and the WiCyS Chair in decision making will include (but not limited to): Proposer s interest in hosting and experience Proposal merit Institutional support We expect that proposer(s) will cooperate and collaborate with the WiCyS Committee Chair (Dr. Ambareen Siraj), Tennessee Tech University and our academic/industry partners in continuing with WiCyS to make an impact. Together we can make a difference in increasing female participation in cybersecurity. For further inquiries, please contact Ambareen Siraj at [email protected]