What does it take to make cybersecurity feel like it's for everyone? Dr. Ashley Podhradsky has spent her career answering that question.

In this episode, Andy and Brandi sit down with the Vice President for Research and Economic Development & Co-Founder of CybHER at Dakota State University to talk about building the next generation of cyber professionals, why curiosity matters more than math scores, and what parents and business leaders alike need to know about the technology shaping daily life.

Dr. Podhradsky is a professor of digital forensics, co-founder of CybHER, and one of 120 women honored at the Smithsonian for excellence in STEM. Her research teams have secured more than $26.5 million in competitive grants and contracts from organizations including the NSA, NSF, and Google.

:00 - Introduction & welcome
1:52 - Dr. Podhradsky's credentials & what DSU is building
4:43 - Partnering with businesses, small governments & CISA
9:10 - The CybHER camps: hands-on cyber for K-12
15:11 - Why "are you curious?" beats "are you good at math?"
18:39 - Tech responsibility for kids — and the digital mistake you can't undo
22:58 - Gaming consoles, drones & digital forensics
26:55 - End-to-end encryption and its unintended consequences
29:14 - The sextortion crisis every parent should know about
31:00 - DSU's student pipeline: 99.9% placement rate
33:04 - Competitions, hackathons & the MIT Bitcoin win
35:03 - Launch question from the jar

🗨️ Mentioned in this episode:

Learn more about Dr. Podhradsky: dsu.edu/directory/podhradsky-ashley.html

CybHER cyber outreach program: gencybergirls.camp

DSU Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences: dsu.edu

Secure SD / Project Boundary Fence: madlabs.dsu.edu/digforce/boundary-fence

Google Cybersecurity Clinic at DSU: dsu.edu/news/2025/06/cybersecurity-clinic-grand-opening.html

Bark — parental monitoring app mentioned by Dr. Podhradsky: bark.us

Connect with Dr. Ashley Podhradsky:
linkedin.com/in/ashley-podhradsky-64312032

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