"It is awesome to go through the process and see how it works," senior cybersecurity major Elissa McGee said. "I'm very excited to leave my mark with this lab."
McGee is part of a group of interns who are tasked with creating the learning space that will not only serve them but every other student to enroll in the college's cybersecurity and digital forensics program, which earned a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense accreditation last year by the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Throughout the past few weeks, the college students have set up Dell XPS computers, installed monitors and began the work on the network infrastructure that will operate the classroom.
Justin Williams, an information technologies professor and Mount IT department chair, said the goal is to have the room up and running by the end of the fall semester, which will be in December.
He said having the students build the lab themselves will give them valuable industry skills they can take into the work force after graduation.
Ebone Junior, a senior who majors in IT and cybersecurity, also noted that the soft skills of working with a team, such as communication and time management, have been a benefit as well.
The lab is located on the first floor of the college's library and features 25 work stations, each with its own computer and trio of monitors, and a server room at the rear.
All of this sits behind a wall of windows, which can be tinted when class is in session, and a large locked door.
The majority of funding for the equipment came from the George I. Alden Trust.
Mount Aloysius College received $100,000 for the cybersecurity upgrade and nearly $400,000 more in seven other grants and gifts.
The trust's mission is to provide funding to smaller post-secondary institutions along the upper East Coast.
Williams said getting that money to beef up the school's cyber offering was amazing.
He said he was thankful to the Alden Trust for helping the school's program.
Until now, the cybersecurity students met in the ground level of the library.
They're excited to move upstairs next semester to use the new equipment.
Ethan Poust, a senior cybersecurity major, said he's looking forward to the three- monitor setup because it'll make managing multiple programs easier.
He added that the old lab was good, but with all the improvements in the new learning space, classes will be better.
McGee described it as a night-and-day difference and said she was thankful that the college was investing on the programs future.
She joked that she has a "love-hate relationship" with setting up the new lab because she's there for just one more semester to use it, but she is happy future students will get such a state-of-the-art center.
Poust agreed, stating that brand-new equipment should translate into more excitement for the program.
Williams said the students who participate in the cyber defense team will also make use of the new lab.
Those students take part in hacking competitions with schools from across the country.
For more information about the Mount's cybersecurity and digital forensics offering, visit www.mtaloy.edu.
©2023 The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
