Faculty, students support Pa. nonprofits’ cybersecurity and develop career skills

ABINGTON, Pa. — Nonprofit organizations in the United States have seen a sharp rise in cyber-attacks targeting donor data and financial transactions, with 71% reporting at least one cybersecurity incident in the last three years, according to Infosecurity magazine. Now a Penn State Abington professor is leading the charge to improve cybersecurity among nonprofits in underserved Pennsylvania communities that face cybersecurity challenges due to limited budgets. 

The WeAreCyberReady website is the centerpiece of the “Enhancing Cybersecurity Readiness in Nonprofit Organizations Through Collaborative Research and Innovation” initiative, which is supported by a Penn State Presidential Public Impact Research Award (PPIRA). The funding accelerated the project’s progress while providing invaluable paid learning experiences for students.  

“Our mission is to empower nonprofit organizations with the tools and knowledge to strengthen their cybersecurity posture,” said Maryam Roshanaei, assistant professor of information technology and Cybersecurity Analytics and Operations. “Through collaborative research, student engagement, and strategic partnerships, we’ve laid the groundwork for lasting impact across Pennsylvania’s nonprofit sector.” 

Students are gaining hands-on experience and essential skills for the future by developing research questions and hypotheses, conducting systematic literature reviews, managing websites and refining scientific communications by attending workshops and conferences. Their work has also included data collection and survey development, web scraping and data extraction, data profiling and clustering, and website design and development. 

“Working on this project has been a transformative experience — designing surveys, managing cross-campus teams, and building the WeAreCyberReady website taught me real-world skills that go far beyond the classroom,” Junior Diaz, an Abington cybersecurity major, said.  

“It’s incredibly rewarding to know our work is helping nonprofits become more secure,” he continued. 

Diaz joined Mahir Khan, a Schreyer Honors student majoring in information technology with minors in security and risk analysis and business at Abington, along with undergraduate and graduate students from Penn State Great Valley, Schuylkill and Greater Allegheny, to work on the project. 

Members of the faculty team include Jennifer Breese, associate professor at Greater Allegheny; Brian Gardner, assistant professor at Schuylkill; Dusan Ramljack, assistant professor at Great Valley; and Michael Bartolacci, professor at the Berks campus.                                                                                     

Roshanaei’s team partnered with the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations (PANO), and the project continues to evolve, demonstrating the power supported community-based research can have in shaping the future of both academia and industry as well as the University's land grant mission.

“We are partnering with researchers at Penn State to understand the cybersecurity needs of our constituents and members and to provide them with cybersecurity recommendations,” Christina Spadaro, the assistant director of PANO, said. “This research aligns with our goals of empowering nonprofit organizations and giving them access to training, best practices, and consultation to do their best work.” 

The PPIRA is funded by the Presidential Strategic Initiative on Public Impact Research through the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, a unit of the University’s Social Science Research Institute, which is supported by the College of Health and Human Development. 

“The PPIRA program is designed to support community-engaged scholarship that provides experiential learning opportunities for students and deepens the reach of Penn State into our communities,” Michael Donovan, associate director of the collaborative, said. “The team led by Dr. Roshanaei is contributing remarkable public value through their project through the support provided to the non-profit community.” 

About Penn State Abington 

Penn State Abington provides an affordable, accessible and high-impact education resulting in the success of a diverse student body. It is committed to student success through innovative approaches to 21st-century public higher education within a world-class research university. With more than 3,100 students, Penn State Abington is a residential campus that offers baccalaureate degrees in 26 majors, accelerated master's degrees, undergraduate research, the Schreyer Honors College, NCAA Division III athletics and more.