Author: Lynn Bigelow

On September 13th, members of Messiah University’s Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) team had the opportunity to visit Liberty University. Dr. David Bibighaus and four students represented Messiah during this visit, which focused on collaboration, idea-sharing, and learning from Liberty’s established cyber competition program.

Liberty University, a leading team in national CCDC competitions and many other competitions that our team hopes to compete in, generously shared insights gained from years of experience. Their hospitality and willingness to offer guidance helped our team identify strategies that could enhance their own performance in future competitions. Liberty’s team provided a behind-the-scenes tour of their advanced cyber range—a sophisticated server and network architecture used for hands-on learning and cyber defense training.

With Messiah recently receiving a grant to build a similar cyber range, the knowledge gained from Liberty’s model will be invaluable as Messiah constructs and optimizes their own lab environment. These resources will empower students to gain practical experience and prepare more effectively for competitive events.

Looking ahead, Messiah is eager to continue collaborating with Liberty, with plans for future scrimmages already in the works. As Messiah’s cybersecurity program continues to grow, fostering connections with leading Christian institutions like Liberty has great value. We hope to share the competition podium with our brothers and sisters in Christ soon. Thank you Liberty for Hosting us.

Thank you to Chris for this summary!

A Messiah cyber student was selected to participate in an NSA grant funded Cyber-Chinese program this past summer.    Here is his summary of the experience:

Part 1 of the Chinese Language Immersion Program ran by Indiana University of Pennsylvania was an excellent opportunity to increase my Chinese skills and cultural knowledge. The ten-week summer aspect greatly increased students’ listening and writing skills specifically. Throughout two weeks online and eight weeks at IUP, I spent around five hours a day in language classes and another 50 minutes learning culture. Classes were almost completely in Chinese, which was a challenge to overcome at first. The professors were thoroughly patient when students could not understand, and they made classes understandable by adding some English. Then, during the week and certain weekends, we participated in Chinese culture activities. These included: calligraphy, dragon boating, Kungfu, Tai Qi, Waist Drum dancing, making dumplings, eating at Chinese restaurants, visiting Chinese stores, and singing karaoke. Additionally, the other students are on similar degree paths that I am. This helped to make the program even more fun and engaging for everyone. We got to attend a government conference where we learned about job opportunities that use cybersecurity and Chinese language skills to defend the nation. IUP’s 2024 Chinese Immersion Program improved my language ability immensely and gave me understanding of future opportunities in this vein.

Thank you to Ryan for this summary!