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Baker College of Flint IT students took first place in the 2009 Michigan/Ohio Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition – and a solid first step toward defending their title as the reigning national champions of the Competition. The annual event, hosted by Baker College of Flint, was held earlier this month.

The Baker students competed against teams from colleges and universities throughout Michigan and Ohio. Observers of the competition included a member of the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI, and three representatives from the Turkish National Police. The students will now move on to the Midwest region competition, to be held March 26-29 in Minneapolis.

The eight competitors from Baker College of Flint included:

• Brandon Hladysh, team captain, of Lapeer
• Ryan Noblett, of Lapeer
• James Olson, of Flint
• Matt Wheatley, of Birch Run
• Larry Hubbard, of Flint
• Eric Ignash, of Elkton
• Tommy Hamilton, of Goodrich
• Rory Gallagher, of San Francisco, California

“I would definitely want the Baker IT students who accepted this challenge on my side in a real cyber emergency. They are to be congratulated for a job well done,” said Julianne T. Princinsky, Ed.D., Baker College of Flint president. “And, all of the event coordinators and volunteers, including site coordinator Connie Hopper, dean James Riddell, associate dean Morris Fulcher, and team advisor Van Scott, are to be commended for all their hard work and dedication in making this event a huge success.”

In 2008, Baker College of Flint defeated defending champion Texas A&M University and four other regional winners from across the country to capture first place in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which concluded in San Antonio, Texas.

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition allows institutions of higher education offering an information assurance or computer security curriculum to assess students’ depth of understanding and operational competency in managing the challenges inherent in protecting an enterprise network infrastructure and business information systems. The winner from the Midwest competition will be invited to participate in the national competition, held in April in San Antonio, Texas.