Purdue University Global graduate students help nonprofit organization improve cybersecurity, data analytics, and networking

In August 2020 Purdue University Global cybersecurity professor Rhonda Chicone joined the volunteer board of Flying HIGH, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Youngstown, Ohio. Flying HIGH founder Jeffrey Magada recruited Chicone to assess the IT infrastructure of the nonprofit. Chicone completed an analysis and broke her findings down into several projects to be completed by her graduate students. Students recently completed those projects, gaining practical experience and providing Flying HIGH with steps for improving its infrastructure.

Four student projects were profiled in a recent news release from Purdue University Global, which spelled out an information security policy for Flying HIGH, a plan for delivering employee training, improvements to network design, and revisions to internal data storage. These projects will serve as a roadmap for future partnerships that will pair Purdue students with small businesses, which often lack the resources to hire someone for these services. Associate Dean for the Purdue Global School of Business and Information Technology, Tina Burton, emphasized this eye on the future, "Small businesses often lack the resources to maintain and secure their information technology infrastructure, and Purdue Global graduates can provide the expertise and solutions to support them."

Flying HIGH works with communities in the Youngstown area with programs dedicated to GED preparation, professional development, urban farming, housing assistance, and alcohol and drug treatment. Due to rapid growth in the organization, Flying HIGH founder Jeffrey Magada saw a need for improved IT infrastructure. With assistance from Professor Chicone, graduate students were able to provide a framework to manage the organization's growth.

One of the four projects was completed by Purdue Global graduate student Sherri Wheeler. Wheeler produced a 47-page guide to establishing a cybersecurity framework for Flying HIGH. Another student, Tim Eliot, curated a list of free resources for employee training in the area of security awareness, and also provided a checklist for employee training and a quick reference guide. Jonathan Schumaker focused on improving network design with an emphasis on security. Finally, Sean Hopkins developed recommendations for data management, finding cost-effective strategies for data backup and advice on transitioning to cloud storage for files.

Through these projects, students got hands-on experience in their field. Sherri Wheeler said her experiences were "...such a rewarding academic experience and for affording me the opportunity to contribute, in some small way, to the Flying HIGH mission."