Two federal grants totaling nearly $3 million for Emporia State University programs were celebrated today during a visit by U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran. The first grant allows the university to create a program in cybersecurity. It came from U.S. Commerce Department funds designated for sciences.
“This 1.5 million dollars helps Emporia State University and its School of Business further explore and develop its cybersecurity educational opportunities,” Moran told a group in Cremer Hall.
A goal, the senator said, is to create new opportunities for graduates to stay and work in Kansas.
“If you can provide a work force that is highly trained,” he said, “employers will be here in a minute.”
Talk of an expansion into cybersecurity began a year ago, also during a visit by Moran, who asked then ESU President Allison Garrett what the federal government could do to help Emporia State succeed.
The new Cybersecurity Center will be located in Cremer Hall in the existing “hacker lab.” This space on the fifth floor is used for classes in computer science, information systems and data analytics.
Beyond educating students enrolled at Emporia State, the new center will host cybersecurity competitions for high school and university students, present community awareness seminars for residents in the Emporia area and across Kansas and create partnerships for faculty-student research.
Upward Bound
Moran then visited a group of students from Emporia and Northern Heights high schools who are on campus this summer as part of the Upward Bound program. Upward Bound is a federally funded TRIO program that provides fundamental support to participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in their precollege performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits.
Emporia State’s Upward Bound program received a grant renewal for five years, from 2022 to 2027, for $297,601 per year, which is a total of nearly $1.5 million.
Being with the students was a highlight of Moran’s day in Emporia, he said. He opened with brief remarks then sat while students shared their personal stories and answered his questions about their goals and how the program has benefitted and inspired them.
“There’s this time in our country’s history in which there’s lots of division and lots of criticism of the way things are,” Moran concluded, “but you don’t have to spend very few minutes with these students to realize they still see opportunities here, and America is still a place where dreams can be pursued.”