Zachary Peterson was a fellow in New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative. Peterson is an associate professor of computer science at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. His current research agenda includes developing and evaluating novel approaches that improve cybersecurity outreach and education, especially those methods centered around the use of games and play. Creating experiences that are fun, inclusive, and meaningful, irrespective of a student’s demographics, background, and abilities, has been a particular focus.
He is the recipient of multiple National Science Foundation awards to support this effort, and which have manifested a variety of outcomes, including: [d0x3d!], an open-source, network security board game designed to teach young, non-CS audiences network security terminology, attack and defend mechanics, and basic security concepts; the development of a “cybersecurity track” within his university’s Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) summer camp for high school students; and most recently, the development of an experimental CS course designed to engage first-year students in computer science and security principles, taught as an alternate reality game (ARG).
He is the 2016 recipient of the US-UK Cyber Security Fulbright Scholarship which he used to continue his research exploring the use of digital and non-digital games for teaching computer security concepts to new, young, and non-technical audiences.
His goal is to continue to innovate effective and repeatable methodologies for computer education that measurably increase awareness of computer security, create a pathway to a career as a cybersecurity professional, and, which provide a fun, inclusive, and engaging context for communicating computer security concepts.