CyberPowder is a project funded (grant #: 2417934) by the NSF CyberTraining program in the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).
CyberPowder develops wireless networking content and training material for both classroom teaching and hands-on cyberinfrastructure training. Classroom teaching focuses on developing and teaching curricula that address the inherent multi-disciplinary nature of wireless networking by co-teaching material that is traditionally siloed in either the computer science or electrical engineering disciplines. CyberPowder’s cyberinfrastructure training follows a novel cohort approach that combines online and in-person, research-focused training on the POWDER platform, followed by structured research support involving both the trainees and their faculty advisors. The cyberinfrastructure training program provides training on the use of wireless networking and experimental research fundamentals as well as specific advanced wireless technologies.
A key component of CyberPowder is the CyberPowder Fellows Program.
The CyberPowder Fellows Program is a cohort-based research-focused hands-on training program for graduate students working in wireless and mobile networking. The Program addresses the problem that wireless experimental research is inherently multidisciplinary, crossing the EE and CS divide; that wireless networking is undergoing rapid technology and regulatory change; and that today’s wireless testbeds are highly sophisticated, which also means they require significant training to use. The Program trains students across the wireless stack to perform wireless related research on POWDER, the world’s largest openly-accessible software-defined wireless testbed. POWDER is deployed across the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City and remotely accessible from anywhere in the world.
The CyberPowder Fellows Program consists of:
We have conducted two CyberPowder Fellows Program iterations, one in Spring 2025 and another in Spring 2026. We are planning another CyberPowder Fellows Program training for Spring 2027.
For more information about the CyberPowder Fellows Program, please see this overview poster.
All content for the previous iterations of the CyberPowder Fellows program, including schedule, background reading, hands-on assignments and slides are available from these public Canvas courses: CyberPowder Spring 2025 and CyberPowder Spring 2026.
Enquiries please email at: cyberpowder@powderwireless.net
