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Miami Dade College’s (MDC) School of Engineering and Technology (EnTec) student Aimee Reyes has been awarded a Women in Cybersecurity Security Training scholarship sponsored by Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), SANS Institute, and Google. She also placed in the top 3 percent at this year’s National Cyber League competition.
After only two months of training, Reyes was among 16 candidates selected from nearly 1,000 global applicants to receive the coveted Women in Cybersecurity scholarship designed to create a reliable pathway to launch and advance careers of women in cybersecurity through skills development. She will join the inaugural class of MDC’s new Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity program, which begins in Spring 2021.
“Being Dominican, I’ve often heard the phrase, ‘No inventes tanto,’” said Reyes, who also is of Salvadoran descent. “This roughly translates to ‘don’t innovate’ because it is associated with disruption. I’ve ignored that advice. I am the first in my family to pursue a bachelor’s degree.”
Reyes is the first MDC student to receive the scholarship and serves as founding vice president of the student chapter of the Women in Cybersecurity, a global nonprofit dedicated to bringing women together in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry to share knowledge, experience, networking and mentoring.
She also is the captain of the MDC Cybersecurity Club, which recently ranked in the top 6 percent out of 957 teams at the National Cyber League cybersecurity competition, a leading cloud-based cybersecurity skills platform offering a safe environment for students to practice and compete. Reyes’ scores at the competition placed her in the top 3 percent of all students participating. The remainder of the team placed in the top 6 percent.
Reyes is the creator of Cafecito + Cyber, an ongoing event series designed to connect students to the IT industry with a focal point on cyber security to bridge professional development gaps by providing resume review, interview practice, and talks and mentorship from peers and IT professionals. She also has been awarded the National Science Foundation Dade Enterprise Cloud Computing Initiative scholarship and is an MDC Comcast Cloud Computing Academic Proficiency Awardees scholar.
MDC’s new Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity program prepares students with cutting-edge knowledge, hands-on skills and industry certifications to meet the increasing workforce demands of South Florida employers and beyond. The program was built following the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework and the Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education knowledge units sponsored by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
According to Salary.com, as of July 2020, the average salary for information security and cybersecurity specialists in the United States is $134,310, and the range typically falls between $121,710 and $153,380. In Florida, the range is $115,630 to $145,710.
To learn more about MDC’s cybersecurity programs, visit www.mdc.edu/cybersecurity.
