College to Receive $1M in Funding from Google to Establish Cybersecurity Clinic

June 4, 2024

Franklin Cummings Tech today announced that it has been selected to receive $1 million in grant funding and wraparound support from Google’s Cybersecurity Clinics Fund to establish the Franklin Cummings Tech Cybersecurity Clinic. The funding from Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, is part of a $25 million collaboration with the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics.

“The generous grant from Google and the partnership with the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics will add significantly to our cybersecurity training programs while allowing our students to give back to their communities by serving BIPOC-owned small businesses and local community programs,” said Dr. Meredith Quinn, executive director of Franklin Cummings Tech’s Center for Computing and Interdisciplinary Technology. “We are grateful to Google for providing this opportunity that aligns perfectly with Franklin Cummings Tech’s academic and social mission.”

The Franklin Cummings Tech Cybersecurity Clinic is one of 15 new clinics set to launch in 2024 at higher education institutions across the country through a collaboration between Google and the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics. In addition to $1 million in Google.org funding, the tech company is offering Franklin Cummings Tech volunteer mentorship from Google employees, Google Titan Security Keys, and scholarships for the Google Career Certificate in Cybersecurity. Learn more on Google’s blog and the Consortium’s website.

The Franklin Cummings Tech Cybersecurity Clinic will operate out of the College’s Center for Computing and Interdisciplinary Technology. Supported by working practitioner-mentors, small student teams will provide free cybersecurity services to BIPOC-owned small and medium-sized businesses. A partnership between the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts and the College will determine the businesses that will receive cybersecurity risk assessments and services. In the next few years, the program will expand to provide free cybersecurity services to nonprofits serving youth in Boston. Students in the program will earn credit toward an associate degree in Franklin Cummings Tech’s rapidly growing Cybersecurity program.

“Through this grant from Google.org and partnership with the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, Franklin Cummings Tech students will have hands-on experience and work closely with mentors who are professionals in the cyber security field,” said Gary Evee, founder, and CEO of Evee Security Consulting Group. “The Franklin Cummings Tech Cybersecurity Clinic will bring the benefits of cutting-edge cyber security to communities of color by building a diverse tech workforce while helping BIPOC-owned small businesses prevent devastating cyber incidents.”

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report, cyber insecurity remains one of the top 10 global risks over the next 10 years. Currently, there are nearly 450,000 open cybersecurity jobs available in the U.S., including 12,262 in Massachusetts, and demand for cyber professionals is projected to grow 32% by 2033. To ensure that communities, critical infrastructure, and businesses big and small across the U.S. are secure, we need a skilled, diverse, and AI-savvy cybersecurity workforce.

“The world is in a moment where emerging technologies, like AI, are creating both new opportunities and threats in the world of cybersecurity,” said Heather Adkins, VP of Security Engineering at Google. “It’s essential that we invest in growing a strong, diverse, and widespread cybersecurity workforce to help protect everyone—from critical infrastructure to small businesses and schools. The 15 clinics that we’re helping to establish serve a wide variety of students across all corners of the U.S. and we’re excited to see the impact they’ll have in their local communities.”

“Google’s transformative investment is catalyzing cybersecurity for the public good,” says Ann Cleaveland, co-founder and co-chair of the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics and Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. “We congratulate the recipients and applaud these awards, which propel forward the vision of the Consortium to establish a cybersecurity clinic in every US state by 2030.”

The announcement builds on Google’s 2023 support for ten clinics, part of a combined commitment to launch 25 Google-supported cyber clinics nationwide by 2025. With the latest round of funding, Google.org has now committed more than $25 million toward creating the diverse and AI-and-digital security-savvy workforce needed to protect critical U.S. infrastructure from cyber attacks.