Virginia Tech Summer 2026 AI, Chip Manufacturing, and Physical Computing Camp - Potomac Yard Metro
Micor, Boeing and others are supporting the Virginia Tech BRICCS Team in a very advanced, NSF-sponsored camps this summer exploring Artificial Intelligence, Chip Manufacturing, and Physical Computing (Internet of Things) at Virginia Tech's Potomac Yard campus (Metro Blue/Yellow lines).
The Northern Virginia STEM Network began in 2007 as an informal network of CTE and other STEM educators with a focus on growing our own future workforce in Northern Virginia. Many years later in 2021 the ecosystem was integrated with the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) STEM Learning Ecosystem led by our long-term collaborators at Morgan State University and continued through multiple extensions of their DSEC grant.
When that DSEC funding ended in 2024 partners were encouraged by supporters at T.I.E.S. to go big for national recognition. Accordingly, they "re-branded" as NoVaWISE (Northern Virginia Workforce Innovations through STEM Education). but were later encouraged to keep the original name. They are looking for highly engaged leaders in technical industries, public school leadership, after-school and out-of-school innovators, and workforce development specialists.
Virginia Tech is supporting the design of a new website. Until then you can still catch them at www.NoVaSTEM.net or NoVaSTEM.blogspot.com.
Contact Jim Egenrieder (JimE@vt.edu) to get involved.
The Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine issued a 2025 White Paper, An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence providing a foundation in topics such including:
See the NoVa Regional Dashboard at https://www.novaregiondashboard.com/educational-attainment for specific achievement by city or county.
Northern Virginia localities are home to some of the most highly educated residents in the nation. This high education level of the region's citizens creates a strong, flourishing business community. The percentage of Northern Virginia's population age 25 or more holding a bachelor's or higher degree is 61.9%, which is nearly double the United States, and holding a graduate or professional degree is 30.2%, which is more than double the United States.
All counties in America where 40% or more have a Bachelor's degree
The Impacts of AI on Cybersecurity
Abraam Ibrahim, 2024 Commonwealth Cyber Initiative InternIn 2024, an estimated 77% of businesses were either using or were exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in their business processes (National University, 2024). The light-speed pace of AI development and adoption has massive implications across all industries and sectors. Finance experts using AI to assist in trading, doctors using AI for ultrasound measurement, and factory owners employing AI to create smart factories are just a few examples. The ever-advancing field of cybersecurity, already well-known for its rapid acceleration, is among the most impacted by this AI revolution.
This article explores the anticipated impacts that the rise of AI could have on cybersecurity, and how AI's ability to enhance authentication, automate tasks, and improve threat detection and response is revolutionizing the field while simultaneously introducing new challenges and threats.
AI can streamline and automate a wide variety of security tasks. Authentication, incident response, threat detection, intelligence, and other tasks can be significantly improved or even replaced with AI assistance. By leveraging natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning (DL) capabilities, security experts can make cyber operations more effective and efficient. Similarly, AI integration into security solutions will enhance the overall security posture of organizations by enabling faster and more informed response and defense measures, ultimately reducing the time to detect and mitigate threats.
Authentication, the process of validating users, has always been an indispensable guard against security breaches. As the thinking goes, if malicious parties can be prevented from ever gaining access to a target (database, account, server, etc), then all damage can be mitigated preemptively. Accordingly, cyber professionals have created increasingly secure login methods to enhance security and user convenience (biometric, MFA), which have now become the industry norm.
With the advent of AI-enabled machine learning algorithms, security professionals are now employing user behavior analytics (UBA) to detect unusual activity during a sign-in attempt. An algorithm can take various inputs, such as the typing speed, cursor movement, touch input, and biometric data (voice, fingerprints) to determine the validity of an individual request and authenticate legitimate while flagging and reporting suspicious sign-in attempts.
AI’s ability to tirelessly sift through massive amounts of data has profound implications for the industry. AI will enable professionals to focus their time on the most important areas while providing cost-saving benefits due to increased efficiency.
