Integrating soft skills with technical skills to produce next-generation cybersecurity technicians

Johnston Community College received a $565,044 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076), effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028. The award supports the development and delivery of curriculum enhancements to four existing cybersecurity courses—Introduction to Cyber Crime, Introduction to Protocol Analysis, Security Administration, and Ethical Hacking with Python I—designed to integrate targeted soft skills training alongside technical instruction. The project will embed mini-modules and challenge-based team assignments that develop five critical workplace competencies: communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, continuous learning, and attention to detail. These competencies were prioritized by the college's Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT) as essential gaps in cybersecurity graduate readiness.

The products and services delivered include revised course curricula incorporating structured team-based activities, simulations, and competition-style challenges that contextualize soft skills development within technical cybersecurity content. Specific pedagogical approaches include group-based incident response briefings and other collaborative assignments, with each course focusing on one or two of the five targeted competencies to ensure comprehensive, in-depth development. The project directly addresses workforce demands for qualified cybersecurity technicians by producing graduates with both strong technical knowledge and workplace-ready professional skills, particularly addressing skill deficits identified during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by producing more qualified technicians to meet workforce demands in cybersecurity. Keeping computers and information systems secure is a critical need and a major challenge in business, industry, and government. The growth of cyber-threats has created a need for many more workers who have the knowledge and skills to protect both existing and emerging technologies. Research and feedback from employers indicate that although graduates of cybersecurity programs are generally well-prepared technically, their soft skills remain underdeveloped. (this issue was exacerbated by primarily virtual interactions and remote work during the covid-19 pandemic.) to address this GAP, the investigators intend to integrate the targeted development of soft skills into core cybersecurity courses through structured team-based activities, simulations, and competition-style challenges. The project will focus on five competencies that cybersecurity professionals need in the workplace: communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, continuous learning, and attention to detail. The business & industry leadership team (bilt) that advises the college's cybersecurity program prioritized these soft skills for attention. The project team will directly embed them into course activities, assignments, and assessments. Specifically, the investigators aim to revise four existing cybersecurity courses -- introduction to cyber crime, introduction to protocol analysis, security administration, and ethical hacking with python i -- to include mini-modules and challenge-based team assignments focusing on soft skills. Each course will focus on one or two of the five targeted soft skills, ensuring that each one is addressed in-depth within a technical context. Examples include group-based incident response briefings to strengthen communication and professionalism; packet analysis and network troubleshooting activities completed in teams to promote teamwork and problem-solving; and adaptive policy response scenarios that encourage flexibility and resilience. Each course will include clear learning outcomes, soft skill rubrics, and feedback mechanisms to assess both technical and interpersonal development. In addition, the investigators aim to establish a student cybersecurity competition team as a CO-curricular activity and to bring elements of cyber-competition into the classroom for all students. Those activities will include in-class simulations modeled on capture-the-flag or red team/blue team competitions; structured team challenges with rotating roles to develop communication and adaptability; and opportunities for reflection and instructor feedback following simulations or live drills. By embedding a focused set of soft skills into core technical coursework and grounding students' experience in competition-style, gamified team activities, the redesigned cybersecurity program will provide a coherent, high-impact approach to cybersecurity education that aligns with workforce needs and promotes student success. This project is funded by the advanced technological education program, which focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.