After winning their regional competition, Layer Zero’s Team UNLV was invited to compete in the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE) Cyber Games Invitational where they beat out the other 11 competing teams to place first in the nation.
The team of seven competitors and coach are all members of the student organization, Layer Zero, a hub for all things cybersecurity on campus. They include undergraduate and graduate students from both the College of Engineering’s Computer Science degree programs and those in that college’s interdisciplinary Cybersecurity degree programs offered with the Lee Business School.
Winning team members included: Austin Choi, team captain; Gabe Berrios, coach; and competitors Santiago Montenegro, Humza Moten, Alex Mari Quinto, Nicholaus Bloom, Kaylee Melendez and Bobby Ching. Although not able to attend the national event, Nefeli Georgilas, Thien Nguyen and assistant coach, Luke Rasmusson, were important contributors to winning at regionals and securing the team the win to compete nationally.
NCAE Cyber Games is dedicated to inspiring college students to enter the realm of cyber competitions which helps build new skills in an environment focused on teamwork. All competing students must be from an NCAE-C school, which UNLV is. The College of Engineering’s Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Information Assurance Concentration, recently received redesignated valid through academic year 2030.
