Black Girls Do Engineer Signs Education Partnership With National Security Agency

Black Girls Do Engineer is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides access, education and resources to black students K-12 in STEM.
Published: May 30, 2024

HOUSTON – Black Girls Do Engineer recently signed an education partnership agreement (EPA) with the National Security Agency in “an effort to continue playing a key role in developing science and technology talent for possible national security challenges,” according to the joint announcement.

The National Security Agency (NSA) partners with select universities and nonprofit organizations as part of the Agency’s Minority Serving Institution (MSI) Hacking 4 Intelligence (H4I) program. It is a program where the U.S. government and industry partners, collaborate to solve national security problems.

The program engages HBCU students and college bound students studying STEM disciplines.

Black Girls Do Engineer, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides access, education and resources to black students K-12 in STEM, was selected to participate “because of its stellar reputation in hosting cohorts of students through various STEM subjects including co-ed HBCU and high school programs, utilizing Microsoft technology to do so,” the announcement says.

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The NSA’s collaborative H4I program is for students to “have the opportunity to cultivate essential skills by deconstructing and analyzing NSA and Microsoft problem sets, all while collaborating and networking with government and industry partners,” according to the announcement.

Students “will form interdisciplinary teams and work to solve real-world NSA and Microsoft problem sets,” the announcement says. At the end of a 12-week cohort, students “exit the program with a minimum viable product ready for deployment.”

“This partnership with NSA will allow our program to provide our cybersecurity resources and curriculum to Higher Education institutions through our developed BGDE digital infrastructure enhanced by Microsoft tools,” says Kara Branch, founder and CEO of Black Girls Do Engineer.

Black Girls Do Engineer’s licensed STEM curriculum “is committed to excellence in cyber defense education and research,” the announcement says. Some of its programs include cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data science and a host of technical training.

Higher education programs include their design Badge-A-Thon event offered for college students.

“This collaboration will allow our national impact to reach new heights with higher education students,” says Branch.

Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series