Magnolia, Ark. (KTVE/KARD) — Arkansans share personal information on the web every day, primarily to make online purchases and financial transactions. With your information out there, cybersecurity is more important than ever. A group of Columbia County high school students is on a mission to address cybersecurity issues before they become problems.
Humam Al Shami is a high school student who founded the Magnolia Cybersecurity Club. Al Shami, along with his team, competed in CyberStart's USA against his 40,000 students, including a team from Harvard University. In total, Al Shami's team took home nearly $16,000 in scholarships for him and is in the top 1% of participating students.
I am excited to share with you that for my work in the final group of CyberStart America, I have been selected as a 2024 Honors Scholar by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation. This honor comes with the privilege of being awarded over $9,000 worth of globally recognized cybersecurity training through his GIAC certification at SANS Institute.
While I am elated with this accomplishment, I also want to highlight the great successes that my colleagues and friends at the Arkansas Connections Academy Cybersecurity Club have achieved over the past year. It has taken a while for this club to grow since we started it over two years ago, but after a lot of patience and the support of my instructor and club sponsor, Mr. Daniel Traylor, we now have 2 members. Both were recognized as National Cyber Scholarship Foundation Scholars. Mohammed Al Rouby and Nassif Ahmed are both freshmen, but he has already earned more than $3,000 in scholarships, bringing his total earned by the ARCA Cyber Security Club over the past year to more than $15,000. reach. Congratulations on your success! I look forward to working together again in the future.
Humam Al Shami, via LinkedIn
Al Shami's next plans include furthering a home occupancy simulation project. The project has already been talked about in the industry, with Al Shami receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews for the project.
I'm excited to share with you my biggest project of the past year: Home Occupancy Simulation (Theft Prevention) Using Machine Learning. Yesterday afternoon, I was named both the winner of the computer science category and the overall winner of all categories at the Southeastern Arkansas Regional Science Fair. This honor gave us the privilege of sponsoring the state of Arkansas to compete at the International Science and Technology Fair in Los Angeles, California. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Whitney Holden. Her support in guiding me through the process, the National Academy of Youth Sciences for planting the seeds in me to continue pursuing my goals, and the wonderful friends I made there Dominic Thomas, Aum Dhruv, and Vivek Sandrapati. encouraged and gave me the ability to compete. They will give you advice along the way. Finally, I would like to thank my school, Arkansas Connections Academy, Inc. and all the staff, who have been incredibly supportive of me and my efforts, and Mostajo Raji, University of California, Santa Cruz, with whom I have worked. I would also like to thank my laboratory members. I've learned a lot over the past 7 months – and continue to learn! As a bonus, this same project won 4th place in the Congressional App Challenge and won my school $2,500 in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest won the award. Additionally, it will be showcased once again at the Arkansas Android Sensor Consortium in April for final announcement. Join us at the International Science and Technology Fair and compete with the world's greatest high school projects! Once again, we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of this project over the past few months, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds! .
Humam Al Shami, via LinkedIn
El Dorado, Ark. (KTVE/KARD) — Last week, the newly formed Union County ARC Connect Broadband Group filed findings in Quorum Court aimed at challenging the state of Arkansas' recently released broadband map.
The focus areas of the study are locations with Internet access and areas without service. The goal of this study is to ensure the state's maps are 100% accurate and help communities in need receive broadband connectivity. The survey is publicly available on the ARC Group's Facebook page and is open to interested members of the public.
To address the broadband access pillar, the Arkansas Broadband Authority will provide grants to Internet service providers and partner communities to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet service to underserved areas of the state. Did. The ARC grant program provides funding to eligible projects through a competitive grant application process. The latest award will be determined in February 2023, and the Bureau plans to continue the program with additional funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Arkansas Rural Connect (ARC) Grant Program
