Mayor Tommy Battle joined with industry experts in the field of cybersecurity to address media and students at the Alabama School for Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE) on Wednesday, August 16.

ASCTE, founded in 2018, is the nation’s first public, residential high school that integrates cyber technology and engineering across all disciplines in its curriculum.

Mayor Battle, along with industry professionals such as Cyber Huntsville President Jaime Miller, addressed the student body ahead of the 14th Annual National Cyber Summit, which will be held on September 20-21st at the Von Braun Center.

“The National Cyber Summit puts Huntsville on the map as a center of excellence,” declared Battle.

Miller thanked Governor Kay Ivey for a grant that would enable public school teachers across the state to attend the summit here in Huntsville, for free. Miller spoke of the importance of developing a deep well of talented individuals with an intuitive understanding of technology to fill the demands of the 21st-century workforce.

“It is important to get these students exposed to the cyber and IT fields early, before college, so that they can develop their skills even further,” said Miller.

A brief Q&A session followed the speakers’ remarks, with the young and talented students of ASCTE asking incisive questions about both specific areas of vocational growth that they should pursue as well as the state of the cybersecurity industry more generally.

This year’s keynote speakers at the National Cyber Summit will include the award-winning investigative journalist Brian Kebs; former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chris Kebs; Dawn Cappelli, Director of OT-CERT (Operational Technology – Cyber Emergency Response Team); and Merike Kaeo, vCISO of Double Shot Security.

Registration to attend the National Cyber Summit remains open. For more information, please visit www.nationalcybersummit.com.