Lt. Gov. Gilchrist visits NMU’s Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) – Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist is continuing his tour around the Upper Peninsula this week.
He stopped by Marquette on Wednesday to visit Northern Michigan University’s Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute. NMU faculty provided a presentation for Gilchrist where they discussed the program, how the institute is creating cybersecurity jobs in Michigan, and how NMU’s Educational Access Network (EAN) is expanding broadband across the U.P.
“It was great to get an amazing update. This is an incredibly productive group of people,” said Gilchrist. “Continuing to grow and evolve the program: the institute, the cyber range hub, the curriculum expansion, and evolution is really incredible. And again, it shows that northern Michigan is responding to an industry need and responding in real-time, and recognizing that there’s a huge opportunity for students who are in contact with NMU to impact this industry for the better.
“To fill the three million position shortage that we have in cybersecurity professionals across the country and Michigan, and northern Michigan, in particular, can be a leader in that. That’s very exciting. So I was proud to learn how things are going and how we can help as a state.”
A student performed an automotive cyber security demonstration for Gilchrist, a program first of its kind at the post-secondary level in Michigan.
“I’m a software developer by training so seeing the piece of the car getting hacked, God bless the driver of that [Ford] Escape that saw their instrument panel go all haywire. But it shows that having this kind of infrastructure to be able to learn and to test and to do practical applications like that is really where the learning happens. Being able to see this in person and see students interact with it is really cool,” said Gilchrist.
Gilchrist visited Iron Mountain on Tuesday where he met with local businesses and community leaders.
Gloss