{"id":1165,"date":"2022-12-19T11:09:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T16:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/?page_id=1165"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:28:34","slug":"broadening-participation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/broadening-participation\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadening Participation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 data-start=\"449\" data-end=\"514\">How our competition advances <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.nsf.gov\/funding\/initiatives\/broadening-participation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NSF&#8217;s commitment to create a STEM Workforce<\/a><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"515\" data-end=\"821\">The Social Engineering Competition (SEC) inspires talent and creates opportunities across the nation by giving high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students authentic, skills-based cyber experiences that translate to coursework, internships, and early career pathways. We align with NSF\u2019s workforce focus by:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"822\" data-end=\"1551\">\n<li data-start=\"822\" data-end=\"1069\">\n<p data-start=\"824\" data-end=\"1069\"><strong data-start=\"824\" data-end=\"865\">Accelerating student success in STEM:<\/strong> students build evidence-based portfolios (OSINT, pretexting, phishing, vishing, red-team ethics) and receive actionable feedback from faculty and industry mentors.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1070\" data-end=\"1300\">\n<p data-start=\"1072\" data-end=\"1300\"><strong data-start=\"1072\" data-end=\"1098\">Workforce development:<\/strong> challenges map to in-demand competencies (communication, risk analysis, human-factors security) so participants are better prepared for evolving workplace needs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2188\" data-end=\"2494\"><strong>Strengthening discovery and innovation:<\/strong> Each year, our competition is designed as a testbed for new ideas, advancing the national conversation on the human side of cybersecurity. Our rotating themes (ransomware, romance scams, employment scams, critical infrastructure cyberattacks) expose students to evolving threat landscapes while generating insights for educators, industry, and researchers. Through these themes, the competition fosters <strong data-start=\"1815\" data-end=\"1828\">discovery<\/strong> by asking students to dissect underexplored dimensions of cybercrime, and drives <strong data-start=\"1910\" data-end=\"1924\">innovation<\/strong> by encouraging them to propose countermeasures, ethical frameworks, and educational resources.<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1301\" data-end=\"1551\">\n<p data-start=\"1303\" data-end=\"1551\"><strong data-start=\"1303\" data-end=\"1345\">Expanding the geography of innovation and lower barriers to entry:<\/strong> we intentionally design remote-friendly, low-cost participation so schools and clubs outside major hubs can join on equal footing. Our broadening-participation efforts focus on <strong data-start=\"3102\" data-end=\"3134\">removing structural barriers<\/strong> (cost, tooling, mentorship access, geographic distance) and <strong data-start=\"3195\" data-end=\"3220\">expanding opportunity<\/strong> (resources, capacity building, regional partnerships).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-start=\"1610\" data-end=\"2783\">\n<li data-start=\"1931\" data-end=\"2187\">\n<p data-start=\"1933\" data-end=\"2187\"><strong data-start=\"1933\" data-end=\"1955\">Multiple on-ramps:<\/strong> three divisions (high school, undergraduate, graduate) plus first-timer tracks and scaffolded briefs help newcomers build confidence while advanced teams tackle complex, real-world scenarios.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1931\" data-end=\"2187\"><strong>Research on building a stronger STEM workforce:<\/strong> Each year, we systematically study student experiences, learning outcomes, and skill development.\n<ul data-start=\"1610\" data-end=\"2783\">\n<li data-start=\"987\" data-end=\"1308\">\n<p data-start=\"989\" data-end=\"1308\"><strong data-start=\"989\" data-end=\"1009\">Skill alignment:<\/strong> mapping participant deliverables to the <a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/itl\/applied-cybersecurity\/nice\/nice-framework-resource-center\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1050\" data-end=\"1174\">NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework<\/a>, identifying which Task\/Knowledge\/Skill (TKS) categories are reinforced through OSINT, phishing, vishing, and pretexting exercises.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1309\" data-end=\"1494\">\n<p data-start=\"1311\" data-end=\"1494\"><strong data-start=\"1311\" data-end=\"1333\">Learning pathways:<\/strong> analyzing how students connect multiple social engineering components (OSINT \u2192 persona \u2192 pretext \u2192 phishing\/vishing) to simulate real-world attack lifecycles.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1495\" data-end=\"1685\">\n<p data-start=\"1497\" data-end=\"1685\"><strong data-start=\"1497\" data-end=\"1539\">Behavioral and psychological insights:<\/strong> examining how students interpret and counteract manipulation strategies (e.g., romance scams, ransomware negotiations, AI-amplified deception).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1686\" data-end=\"1848\">\n<p data-start=\"1688\" data-end=\"1848\"><strong data-start=\"1688\" data-end=\"1727\">Reflections and identity formation:<\/strong> capturing how participation shapes student confidence, ethical awareness, and career orientation toward cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1640\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/files\/2026\/02\/CLA_CARELab_Red_Black_Horiz.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"4400\" height=\"684\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!-- Default Statcounter code for Broadening Participation 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class=\"screen-reader-text\">Broadening Participation<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2224,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1165","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2901,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165\/revisions\/2901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/socialengineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}