The chapter kicked off 2025 with an awards ceremony giving away $5,000 for its STEM Teaching Tools Awards (STTA).
Every year, the chapter promotes effective STEM education by enhancing the resources available to STEM teachers in middle and secondary schools in the Hampton Roads area through a joint effort of the AFCEA International Educational Foundation and the chapter. Five teachers from three different schools in the area were awarded and brought some of their STEM students.
Congratulations to all our STTA recipients:
Sarah McDonald, Lakeland High School, Suffolk, Virginia
Heather McGee, Lakeland High School
Amy Jacobs, Lakeland High School
Joey Seal, Nansemond Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, Virginia
James Reich, teaching, Virginia Beach Advanced Technology Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Following the awards ceremony, the chapter swore in its new and returning board of directors:
Caitlin Johnson, president
Kelly Jenne, executive vice president
Danielle Thomasson, secretary
Shahzeib Parvez, treasurer
Eric Johnson, vice president of programs
Dennis Garcia, vice president of education
Beth Armistead, vice president of awards
Lt. Kailey Cornick, vice president of communications
Amy Yendall, vice president of membership
Lt. Col. Clarissa Blair, vice president of military affairs
Palmer Sims*, vice president of the Maritime IT Summit
Chelsey Dolan, vice president of Emerging Leaders
Hillary Boyce, chair of small business
Teresa Duvall, second vice president
Matthew Umphlet, webmaster
Neil Bourassa, chapter historian
Larry Minnick, special activities, golf
Tim Harschutz, immediate past president
David Hopkins, ODU student representative
*denotes past president
Following the awards ceremony and board swearing-in, the chapter welcomed Cmdr. Nick Goddard, director of operations at Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command (NCDOC), to speak.
Goddard is a cryptologic warfare officer with an extensive resume that includes roles in Signals Intelligence, cyber, space, and nonkinetic FIRES supporting U.S. Cyber Command, Special Operations Command, Naval Special Warfare Command and Carrier Strike Groups.
Goddard highlighted several critical points regarding China's cyber threats. He discussed the average person's short attention span, which is between three to five seconds, and how China exploits this through platforms like TikTok. China gathers information from American viewers and sends content to the platform, potentially using this data for malicious purposes. He discussed the number of potential breaches he sees daily and the average cost to infiltrate a network, which is about $12.
Goddard emphasized the need for greater cyber awareness and collaboration with industry experts to address these threats. He also pointed out that the current delivery of cyber tools and systems to the Navy is slow and often outdated when implemented, underscoring the urgency for support from the Hampton Roads community of industry leaders and experts. |
