Welcome to August of 2021! This month we wanted to discuss our near space future for all of us. While Billionaires and other lucky folks head to the edge of space we have to really focus on where this takes us. If going to space is regular, how do we make that a stable thing? What kind of job opportunities open up for all people? How do we secure our space assets, from top secret satellite technology to the data a crew is using to dock successfully to the space station?

This week we welcome Bill Britton to the podcast to share his STEM origin story and discuss the cross-section of cyber and space. There is a need for over 650,000+ jobs right now in cybersecurity, and that isn't including the space industry that is virtually all digital and old - analog and highly susceptible to hacking. Do we need more PhD Rocket Scientists? Or just people who understand the basics of cybersecurity - digital literacy, cloud analytics, and cyber awareness? Can it be taught like any other skill but focused on the needs of the industry? We also learn about the California Cybersecurity Innovation Challenge where college students create an experience that high school students take part in for a challenge. To use these three pillars of Cybersecurity to solve a problem that is Sherlock Holmes-worthy (and I'm very jealous - it's very interactive and sounds like a blast!). It's going international soon - learn more about it in this episode. Thanks again to Bill Britton for coming on the podcast - it was a pleasure! Learn more about the work they are doing here: https://cci.calpoly.edu/events/ccic-2021 Jobs market for Cybersecurity has 500,000+ employee gap https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/tech/cybersecurity-labor-shortage/index.html GenCyber Space Camp: https://cci.calpoly.edu/events/gencyber-space-camp