AUGUSTA, Georgia — Dr. Tamika Head is a connector — the type of person who knows a lot, and if she doesn’t have the answer, she can find someone who does.

So, when Head heard about an opportunity to learn more about cybersecurity, securing her business, and possibly landing government contracts with this information, she jumped at the chance. Her nonprofit, Pink STEM, and her for-profit venture, Pink Engineering, are now more secure and compliant with government regulations thanks to services offered by the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Augusta.

These services were made possible by Georgia AIM, which supports a program at the facility to train Augusta University students in cybersecurity practices and protocols. Georgia AIM is a federally and state-supported project of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2).

“I came out (to Augusta) last year and learned they could help, but I didn’t really understand how they could help small businesses virtually,” said Head, who is based in Warner Robins but grew up in the Augusta area. She scheduled a meeting with John McClain, cybersecurity lead at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center. “And he said, that’s what our grant is for — to help small businesses grow their business.”

That’s when Head made another connection. Her business, Pink Engineering, works with clients to help them navigate government opportunities, such as jobs and contracts. In the decade since she launched Pink Engineering, she’s noticed changes in cybersecurity regulations and compliance.

Could the Cyber Center help her navigate these changes?

Yes. And, not only could McClain and the center’s team of trained students help, they ended up working alongside Head to develop a new line of curricula to help small businesses navigate government cybersecurity requirements. This adds a new level of cybersecurity knowledge for the students and brings a new opportunity for small business clients that benefit from the services offered by the Cyber Center.

For the past two years, the trained student teams have been working with small businesses to help improve their cybersecurity. Supported by Georgia AIM, McClain and the program director, Eric Toler, created a detailed training process for students, assisting as students work with small businesses to walk them through cybersecurity gaps and improvements. This new line of federal protocols can help small businesses looking to compete for government contracts.

“We developed a thorough training process for our students, where they learn to use cutting-edge software that scans a network and uses AI to forecast worst-case scenarios,” said McClain. “By adding government-level security protocols into our menu of options for businesses, we can offer them a path for a more secure network along with new opportunities for contracts.”

As a veteran, Head is familiar with certain military protocols and acronyms. But the world of cybersecurity is unique and has its own set of details. Even with her military background, Head said the requirements were overwhelming.

So, the process of developing a federally compliant curricula was a learning process for both Head and for the Cyber Center team.

“And so, I’ve been able to understand it more and understand why it’s important. It’s showing us, as small business owners, how to really secure our systems,” she said. “And he’s been giving me a checklist of things I need to work on, and now we have a system that monitors the networks of me and my employees.”

Head has also served as a beta tester for the new curricula, offering advice and guidance when instructions get too technical.

Today, a year after she began working with McClain and the Cyber Center students, Head now said she understands government cybersecurity requirements and can pass that knowledge on to her own clients. She’s also able to act on a recent government contracting opportunity thanks to the knowledge she’s gained — something she wouldn’t have been able to do a year ago.

These new opportunities were made possible through the Georgia AIM grant.

“The benefit for me as a small business is, now I have the tools and the equipment to become CMMC certified level one, because now I understand it and I have the tools for it,” she said. “So even though I’m giving feedback on the curricula, I’m still absorbing it and learning and putting my systems in place because I understand the basics of what cybersecurity is.”