<p>The&nbsp;<strong>3^rd&nbsp;National Women in Cybersecurity conference</strong>&nbsp;(NSF Award# 1303441)&nbsp;will be held on&nbsp;<strong>March 31- April 2, Dallas, TX</strong>. https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/</p>
<p>This event is jointly organized by Tennessee Tech and The University of Texas at Dallas (Co-Chairs: Drs. Bhavani Thuraisingham and Janell Straach, UTD)</p>
<p>Strategic partner is Facebook and includes many other industry, government and academic partners.</p>
<p>Call for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/register/" target="_blank">Registration/Scholarship Application</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/participate/" target="_blank">Call for Participation</a>&nbsp;opportunities are&nbsp;NOW&nbsp;open.</p>
<p><strong>We&nbsp;have limited capacity of&nbsp;700&nbsp;attendees.</strong></p>
<p>For 2016, we expect that 50% of the attendees will be students from 2 and 4 year institutions at all levels of education, 25% of expected attendees will be educators and 25% are industry professionals—again at various levels of their careers.</p>
<p><strong>WiCyS scholarships will be given out to students (maximum 350) and faculty (maximum 50).</strong></p>
<p>Scholarship recipients will receive no cost 2 nights&nbsp;shared lodging, meals,&nbsp;fully refundable $50 &nbsp;registration for students and non-refundable $150 registration or faculty.</p>
<p><strong>There will be some travel scholarships (up to $500) available to WiCyS scholarship recipients.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Deadline for WiCyS scholarship application is December 1^st&nbsp;. Acceptance notification is January 5.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;The WiCyS conference &nbsp;will offer:</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Distinguished speaker sessions&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; •&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Technical presentations</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Technical workshops&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; •&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Student&nbsp;Poster competitions&nbsp;(winners receive travel grants)</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Birds-of Feather discussions&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; •&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speed mentoring and networking session</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Panel discussions&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; •&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lightning talks</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Career and graduate school fair&nbsp;(expecting 50+ organizations)</p>
<p>•&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Meet ups with/among Industry, Government and Academic partners</p>
<p>Call for proposal in all categories (except distinguished speaker sessions) is now open until December 1^st. Please submit an abstract by deadline. Accepted program participation guarantees one complimentary registration with lodging.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/participate/" target="_blank">https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/participate/ </a></p>
<p>We have some excellent speakers lined up and with your participation, we hope to orchestrate a program that will be beneficial to students, educators, researchers and professionals.</p>
<p>Past conference (2014 and 2015) programs and evaluation reports are on the conference website.</p>
<p>We have limited capacity and therefore, please&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/register/" target="_blank">reserve</a>&nbsp;your spot as soon as possible.&nbsp;Only way to guarantee registration us through scholarships, program participation, sponsorships. Pre-registration waitlist will also help.</p>
<p>Please pass this to peers, help&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/sponsor/" target="_blank">support</a>&nbsp;our cause and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/spread-the-word/" target="_blank">join the community.&nbsp;</a></p>
<p>Important Links:</p>
<p>Registration/Scholarship Application:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/register/" target="_blank">https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/register/</a></p>
<p>Sponsoring Partnership Opportunities:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/sponsor/" target="_blank">https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/sponsor/</a></p>
<p>Timeline:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/timeline-2016/" target="_blank">https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/timeline-2016/</a></p>
<p>Venue:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/venue-2016/" target="_blank">https://www.csc.tntech.edu/wicys/venue-2016/</a></p>
<p>Ambareen Siraj</p>
<p>WiCyS Founder and Chair</p>
<p>Associate Professor, Computer Science Department</p>
<p>Director, Cybersecurity Education Research&nbsp; and Outreach Center</p>
<p>NSA DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education</p>
<p>Tennessee Tech University</p>