Fresno State criminology professor recognized as cyber hero

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno State criminology professor is being recognized for his work in cybersecurity.

"Anything with a power switch that uses an electrical current, anything that connects online, anything that touches most of our individual daily lives," said Dr. Keith Clement, professor for the university's criminology department. "If it turns on and off, there's some chance that there could be some vulnerability attached to the device."

Cybersecurity may not be something you think about often, but it impacts you every day. Dr. Clement says students need to start thinking about it more.

"These are where the high paying, necessary jobs are, and currently in California there are 73,000 cybersecurity positions available," he added.

Dr. Clement has developed a curriculum introducing students to cybersecurity. The plan is to prepare them early for a successful career in the field.

"We train folks for cybersecurity entry level employment at a fairly young age, then we take them through middle school, high school, community college to the four-year degree programs," he said.

They've already had success introducing the curriculum to students at Fresno State.

"You can see their faces light up as soon as we learn about something new or implement it," said Fresno State Engineering Professor Shahab Tayeb. "They're like, wow this is happening."

They hope to introduce the curriculum to other campuses starting this fall.

Dr. Clements work is getting some big time industry notoriety, being recently recognized as a Cyber Hero by synED Cyber Guild.