NDIA San Diego Chapter
December 2017
The San Diego Chapter National Defense Industrial Association has been an active Chapter with organizational roots that date back to WW-I through the American Defense Preparedness Association. Primary efforts of the Chapter are to promote cooperative dialog between government and the defense industry.
The San Diego chapter is one of the largest and most active, hence most influential, chapters in the nation. It has been selected as a “model chapter” since the inception of the award and its members hold 3 national NDIA Board positions.
The success of our chapter and every activity that benefits our members is the product of talented volunteers who make service to the defense industry community one of their professional development goals.
The focus of the NDIA San Diego Chapters STEM Committee Outreach for Cybersecurity is to provide and promote cyber security educational opportunities for youths in the San Diego and neighboring Counties in Southern California. NDIA San Diego Chapter has worked closely with the Air Force Association (AFA) Chapter 118, San Diego to maximize the amount of cyber education opportunity and information to all youths in the area.
Chapter 118 focuses specifically on the CyberPatriot Competition and NDIA coordinates other student-related cyber education activities. From 2009 -2018/19, NDIA, their Organizers and corporate sponsors initially organized and sponsored the Annual Mayor’s Cyber Cup Competition for high and middle/junior high school students. In 2016/17, this Challenge became known as the SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge and continues into the future. During 2016, NDIA worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District “After the Bell” program and other cyber educators throughout California to help establish the California Cyber Innovation Challenge (CCIC). Two teams from San Diego won the Southern California Regional Competition.
Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing professions on the planet generating more than a $1.5 billion impact on the local San Diego economy alone. Organizers of the SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge have brought together the best and brightest students from Southern California to compete for the prestigious Cyber Cup here in San Diego. The cyber defense competition was open to all high school and middle school students and expanded into Imperial, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. This event is the hallmark of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach initiatives.
Additionally, NDIA San Diego Chapter holds other annual STEM outreach activities such as the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering at PETCO Park where students learn about Robotics, Drones, Electronics, and Cybersecurity; and Navy Gold Coast, a two day event where we invite San Diego Robotic Teams to demonstrate their robots in the San Diego Convention Center exhibit hall and talk to Industry and Government professionals about careers in STEM; and in the fall Navy Fleet Week held at the Broadway Pier for four days, spreading the word on importance of STEM education, including Robotics, Cybersecurity and Engineering.
As we know, cyber is a joint responsibility of academia, business and individuals. While CyberPatriot is an independent activity, we could not accomplish what we do without active participation and help of our local companies, academic partners, affiliate organizations, and caring individuals. It is our privilege and honor to work with and help groom our future cyber defenders and leaders.