One of my favorite parts of the Industrial Cybersecurity program are the tours our students get to take. We try to get them 5 field trips in the first year alone. This generally includes the ISU heat plant, Great Western Malting, the Simplot Don Plant, Amy’s Kitchen, and a nearby substation. We even bring our own headsets so all students can hear the guide.
Here’s a photo of our industrial cybersecurity students at Amy’s Kitchen. One of our instructors is explaining a principle of operation pointing to an instrument panel. It is super cool that an ESTEC Instrumentation graduate who works at the facility was our tour guide!
For the first couple of tours students are a bit lost, but as the semester progresses, they gain vocabulary and use industrial equipment in educational labs. By the final tours they are excited as they understand how things are working. They can converse with the guide and ask meaningful questions.
So, it was a bit of downer that COVID-19 cut the tours short for the year. We will do our best to get these students into more facilities next fall!