The collaborative T3-CIDERS team at Old Dominion University, the University of Arizona, Texas A&M University, and University of Nebraska Omaha is excited to announce the opening of the 2025 cohort of T3-CIDERS, a “train-the-trainer” program to broaden the adoption of HPC and data-intensive techniques in cybersecurity research & education!

Please read on to the bottom of this page to find the registration link!

Cyberinfrastructure (CI) technologies—ranging from high-performance computing and big data to artificial intelligence—have accelerated research and education in cybersecurity. Yet, a significant skills gap limits the utilization of these powerful tools among many students and researchers. T3-CIDERS is designed to address this need by equipping faculty, researchers, and practitioners to both enhance their own expertise and effectively train future generations of cybersecurity researchers.

Cohort 2025 Program Highlights

Participants accepted into Cohort 2025 will engage in a year-long progression of training and community activities, including:

  • Pre-training (Fall 2025): Virtual sessions introducing foundational CI and data competencies.
  • Winter Institute (January 5–9, 2026): A week-long, in-person program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ, focused on hands-on introduction to CI with cybersecurity applications; training on basic pedagogy; and initial planning for CI-infused local training activities.
  • Local Training (Spring/Summer 2026): With support from the T3-CIDERS team, cohort members will plan, develop, and lead training activities within their own institutions and communities.
  • Local K-12 Outreach (Spring/Summer 2026): Optional opportunities to connect with local K-12 schools to raise awareness of CI and cybersecurity research careers.
  • Community Building Activities (ongoing): Including community webinars, research or CI discussion sessions, and collaborative lesson development activities.
  • Collaborative Lesson Development (ongoing): Cohort members will co-create new instructional contents to expand and strengthen the T3-CIDERS training portfolio.

By participating, cohort members will join a growing community-of-practice in cybersecurity research and education, united by the shared goal of advancing CI-powered discovery and training.

Requirements and Expectations

Who can join T3-CIDERS? — Faculty, researchers, postdocs, and practitioners in cybersecurity & related fields are welcome to participate. Undergraduate/graduate students can also join if paired to more senior members (e.g. faculty, researchers, etc.). These participants will be called “Future Trainers“. More details on the requirements can be found on the Requirements page.

Pairing of Future Trainers — We pair faculty and students as “Future Trainer Units” to facilitate collaboration in preparing the local training event(s). Faculty and senior members are encouraged to bring their own students and engage them throughout the cohort year; if no students are available, we will help pair them with students.

Outcomes & Expectations — We expect that through participation in T3-CIDERS, future trainers will become competent to apply CI techniques such as HPC, big data, machine learning, etc. in their own research. Additionally, each Future Trainer Unit is required to conduct a CI-infused local training at their own institutions. Please refer to the Intended Outcomes page to learn more.

Registration for Cohort 2025 Is Now Open!

Registration for Cohort 2025 is open from August through September 2025. The number of seats is limited; please sign up as soon as possible by filling out the application form below:

Apply to the T3-CIDERS 2025 Cohort

Interest List

If you’re interested in T3-CIDERS project, or want to get involved without becoming a cohort member, we invite you to sign up for the T3-CIDERS Interest List to receive updates on registration, webinars, events, and program opportunities.

Apply to the T3-CIDERS Interest List

Please mark down the location and dates for the next cohort’s Institute! The T3-CIDERS Cohort 2025 Winter Institute will be held at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ on January 5-9, 2026. A flyer is available to share with your community. Registration will open in the fall.

Download the flyer as a PDF file here.

Project Team & Acknowledgements

T3-CIDERS is a collaborative project of Old Dominion University (ODU) the University of Arizona (UA), Texas A&M University, and University of Nebraska Omaha. T3-CIDERS is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation CyberTraining grants #2320998 and #2320999.

The team is led by Masha Sosonkina (PI). The Co-PIs are: Hongyi “Michael” Wu, Wirawan Purwanto, Peng Jiang, and Mohan Yang.