Texas A&M Bush School students Tiffany Easter, Patsy Taggart, Rachel Shallow, and Maria Peurach placed in the semifinals in a national cybersecurity competition in Washington, DC. The Atlantic Council’s “Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge” charges the students with developing policy recommendations tackling a fictional cyber catastrophe.
Several Bush School students have participated in previous competitions at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and Columbia University in New York. Brian Rabaey, Miranda Lindsey, Tiffany Easter, and Patsy Taggart placed in the semi-finals for a similar competition at Columbia University.
Tiffany Easter, second-year Master of Public Affairs student, said, “We as a team are grateful for the opportunity to come to DC and compete on behalf of the Bush School. We’re excited to apply what we’ve learned through our coursework, capstones, and personal research and join the conversation of how the US can better prepare and respond to cyber incidents. We’re especially thankful to our faculty advisory, Dr. Andrew Ross, and the Department of International Affairs for making the trip possible!”
Easter reported that one judge at the competition told the students, “You all made Texas A&M proud.”
Dean Mark Welsh made similar comments about the team. “We are so proud of our incredible Bush School cyber team! Congratulations to the students who represented us in DC for the national cyber competition!”
