NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.

Apprenticeships can be a tool to address nation’s shortage of cybersecurity workers, CSUSB professor says
FCW
July 29, 2021

Apprenticeships could be a valuable tool in addition to federal internships to increase the number of cybersecurity workers, said Tony Coulson, the executive director of the Cybersecurity Center at California State University in San Bernardino and the lead of the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Community. He was one of the experts testifying at a hearing of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee on July 29.

"I think that the apprenticeship model has been incredibly underused and there's a lot of energy coming out of other parts of the government, and I would like to see that in national security because it allows us to mentor and produce and validate talent while they're in school and while they're working," Coulson said. It could also strengthen partnerships with educational institutions.

Read the complete article at “DHS recent hiring sprint shows promise, but lawmakers still see gaps in the federal cybersecurity workforce.”

CSUSB professor testifies before Congress on shortfall of cyber workforce
American Security Today
Aug. 29, 2021

Tony Coulson, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Cybersecurity Center, testified before a congressional subcommittee on Thursday, to apprise all those in attendance that the nation is in a crisis situation of a 500,000 person shortage in the cyber workforce.

“Let that number sink in,” Coulson told members of the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation.

Read the complete article at “U.S. in crisis with massive shortfall of 500,000 cyber workforce jobs.”

CSUSB biology professor and student publish research on ‘Quantifying Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) Hunting Behavior through Community Science’
Diversity
July 29, 2021

Breanna Putman, CSUSB assistant professor of biology, and Emily Urquidi, a biology student and supplemental instructor leader for biology, published a paper on how Southern Pacific Rrattlesnakes respond to changes in their environment, such as habitat loss and human activity, using community science platforms.

“We utilized two platforms, iNaturalist and HerpMapper, to study the hunting behaviors of wild Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes,” the paper’s abstract reads. “From 220 observation photos, we quantified the direction of the hunting coil (i.e., “handedness”), microhabitat use, timing of observations, and age of the snake. With these data, we looked at whether snakes exhibited an ontogenetic shift in behaviors. We found no age differences in coil direction. However, there was a difference in the microhabitats used by juveniles and adults while hunting. We also found that juveniles were most commonly observed during the spring, while adults were more consistently observed throughout the year. Overall, our study shows the potential of using community science to study the behaviors of cryptic predators.”

Read the complete article at “‘Quantifying Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) Hunting Behavior through Community Science.’”

CSUSB professor discusses threats of violence at local government meetings
The Orange County Register/Southern California News Group
Aug. 2, 2021

Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for an article about threats of violence at school board and city council meetings.

Levin said that government meetings increasingly are targeted by activists who use violent speech — or the threat of actual violence — to raise their profile. The local events, Levin said, “are being amplified by a subculture that’s on social media, and is able to tie these meetings to some cataclysmic event.” That’s creating some trends that Levin described as “vivid” and “distressing.”

He said said a “confluence of factors” is making the current political moment ripe for actual violence, even in local meeting halls.

The public, he noted, no longer trusts former community touchstones, such as police and universities and newspapers and health experts. At the same time, ethnic and racial diversity, multiculturalism, and acceptance of all sexual orientations are changing in ways that threaten people who once benefited from the old status quo.

Toss in trends like the recent coarsening of political discourse, the rise of social media (where facts and propaganda and conspiracy theories co-mingle and can have equal sway), and the tension that comes from a global pandemic, and you’ve got a recipe for potential violence.

It’s the “democratization of hate,” Levin said, and a political landscape where “extremism has become mainstream.”

Read the complete article at “Is violence coming to City Hall?”

Teens’ use of swastikas in vandalism spree ‘trivializes the Holocaust,’ CSUSB professor says
The Orange County Register/Long Beach Press-Telegram
July 30, 2021

The growing use of Nazi symbols by teens among young people is alarming, said Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. As part of their vandalism of a historic Seal Beach theater being restored, a group suspects drew swastikas on a set of electrician’s blueprints.  

“It’s done for shock value, and it trivializes the Holocaust,” Levin said. “That’s where we are in society – shock, ignorance and divisiveness have currency. All the more troubling is that this demonstration of prejudice is not outside the realm of repetition.”

Read the complete article at “Teens broke into Bay Theatre; left graffiti and swastikas in their wake.”

CSUSB professor panelist on Aug. 1 program on critical race theory
Santa Monica Daily Press
July 30, 2021

Angela Clark-Louque, professor of educational leadership at California State University, San Bernardino, was among the panel of experts assembled to discuss critical race theory -- a widely misunderstood concept which the conservatives in the US are attempting to demonize in an effort to scare folks into supporting their political goals. The panel discussion took place on Aug. 1 at a program presented by the Committee for Racial Justice.

Read the complete article at “Critical race theory: What it is and why it matters.”

CSUSB professor discusses a managerial approach to human relations
Lastly (India)
July 30, 2021

Human relations is a hot topic these days. The news site invited Vipin Gupta, a Cal State San Bernardino professor of management known for investigating the vastly integrated processes inside nature, through a 12-book project, VIPIN, to discuss the topic. Having published seven books so far this year, he is currently working on the eighth book, “What is Human Factor.” In the interview, he illuminates what his research shows about the nature.

Read the complete article at “A managerial approach to human relations, insights from Project VIPIN.”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”