Fresno State is piloting a program in partnership with California State University, San Bernardino and San Jose State to address a critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals throughout California and the United States. 

The purpose of the pilot program is to develop an innovative collaboration with key stakeholders and major partners to promote cybersecurity and emerging technology career education pipelines and pathways to develop a skilled workforce. 

“With over 55,000 cybersecurity jobs currently available in California and 572,000 in the U.S., and as technology like artificial intelligence emerges, we need to do our utmost to prepare today’s and future generations of cybersecurity professionals for the workforce,” said Dr. Keith Clement, professor of criminology and the principal investigator on the project for Fresno State. 

The partnership, named Work Force Innovation Technology Hub, or WITH-Cyber, is funded by  $4 million from the state’s Cybersecurity Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnership Pilot Program. The effort is a result of recent changes to the California Education Code via Assembly Bill 569. It is funded through June 2026. Fresno State and San Jose State each received $1 million for the program while the lead campus, San Bernardino, received $2 million.

The three universities were selected by the California State University’s Chancellor’s Office for their ongoing work in the field. Fresno State works with the California Cybersecurity Task Force, co-led by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the California Department of Technology and the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards. CSU San Bernardino is a Center for Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, and San Jose State produces the most security engineers working in Silicon Valley.

Fresno State WITH-Cyber campus initiatives include:

  • Expansion of the campus Soft-Start IT-Cybersecurity Education and Workforce Development Collaborative in collaboration with partners at Fresno City College.
  • Cybersecurity graduate and undergraduate course and program development at Fresno State.
  • Collaboration and partnership with K-12 schools and districts, California Community College, California State University and University of California campuses.
  • Fresno State Cybersecurity workforce development projects like career fairs, internship and apprenticeship opportunities.
  • The launch of a cybersecurity internship program for students this summer, offering a valuable opportunity to develop their cybersecurity knowledge and skills to solve real-world challenges.
  • Education infrastructure capacity building, including statewide meetings and conferences, virtual cybersecurity labs, and a clearinghouse for cyber and AI education, research, service and grant-writing opportunities to leverage campus cyber activities into the future. 

Specifically, the three universities are tasked with creating a pilot program with goals and metrics, developing strategies and tactics to build successful regional alliances and multi stakeholder partnerships, and measuring the impact and results of the pilot program, which will be shared with the Chancellor’s Office. The end goal is to leverage the 23-campus CSU, the largest state university system in the nation, to be a driver for developing the cyber workforce. 

Because the CSU student population is among the most diverse in the nation, the effort would also increase and expand the diversity in the cybersecurity workforce. And with so many CSU students the first in their families to enroll and earn a college degree, it will help fulfill the CSU’s mission of increasing their social mobility through high-paying jobs in a fast-growing industry. 

Dr. Bao Johri, vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer, and Dr. Joy Goto, interim dean, Division of Research and Graduate Studies, are both involved in the planning of the Fresno State hub program. 

“Our graduate and undergraduate students and faculty are critical for tackling the constantly changing and real world cybersecurity demands,” Goto said. “The CSU WITH-Cyber is a timely opportunity to expand Fresno State’s reach and prepare our students for this immediate regional, national and international workforce need.”