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Main Authors: Hariprasad, Yashas, Gurappa, Subhash, Iyengar, Sundararaj S., Miller, Jerry F., Mohanty, Pronab, Chaudhary, Naveen Kumar
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00222
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author Hariprasad, Yashas
Gurappa, Subhash
Iyengar, Sundararaj S.
Miller, Jerry F.
Mohanty, Pronab
Chaudhary, Naveen Kumar
author_facet Hariprasad, Yashas
Gurappa, Subhash
Iyengar, Sundararaj S.
Miller, Jerry F.
Mohanty, Pronab
Chaudhary, Naveen Kumar
contents The Forensics Investigations Network in Digital Sciences (FINDS) Research Center of Excellence (CoE), funded by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, advances Digital Forensic Engineering Education (DFEE) through an integrated research education framework for AI enabled cybersecurity workforce development. FINDS combines high performance computing (HPC), secure software engineering, adversarial analytics, and experiential learning to address emerging cyber and synthetic media threats. This paper introduces the Multidependency Capacity Building Skills Graph (MCBSG), a directed acyclic graph based model that encodes hierarchical and cross domain dependencies among competencies in AI-driven forensic programming, statistical inference, digital evidence processing, and threat detection. The MCBSG enables structured modeling of skill acquisition pathways and quantitative capacity assessment. Supervised machine learning methods, including entropy-based Decision Tree Classifiers and regression modeling, are applied to longitudinal multi cohort datasets capturing mentoring interactions, laboratory performance metrics, curriculum artifacts, and workshop participation. Feature importance analysis and cross validation identify key predictors of technical proficiency and research readiness. Three year statistical evaluation demonstrates significant gains in forensic programming accuracy, adversarial reasoning, and HPC-enabled investigative workflows. Results validate the MCBSG as a scalable, interpretable framework for data-driven, inclusive cybersecurity education aligned with national defense workforce priorities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_00222
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Empowering Future Cybersecurity Leaders: Advancing Students through FINDS Education for Digital Forensic Excellence
Hariprasad, Yashas
Gurappa, Subhash
Iyengar, Sundararaj S.
Miller, Jerry F.
Mohanty, Pronab
Chaudhary, Naveen Kumar
Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
The Forensics Investigations Network in Digital Sciences (FINDS) Research Center of Excellence (CoE), funded by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, advances Digital Forensic Engineering Education (DFEE) through an integrated research education framework for AI enabled cybersecurity workforce development. FINDS combines high performance computing (HPC), secure software engineering, adversarial analytics, and experiential learning to address emerging cyber and synthetic media threats. This paper introduces the Multidependency Capacity Building Skills Graph (MCBSG), a directed acyclic graph based model that encodes hierarchical and cross domain dependencies among competencies in AI-driven forensic programming, statistical inference, digital evidence processing, and threat detection. The MCBSG enables structured modeling of skill acquisition pathways and quantitative capacity assessment. Supervised machine learning methods, including entropy-based Decision Tree Classifiers and regression modeling, are applied to longitudinal multi cohort datasets capturing mentoring interactions, laboratory performance metrics, curriculum artifacts, and workshop participation. Feature importance analysis and cross validation identify key predictors of technical proficiency and research readiness. Three year statistical evaluation demonstrates significant gains in forensic programming accuracy, adversarial reasoning, and HPC-enabled investigative workflows. Results validate the MCBSG as a scalable, interpretable framework for data-driven, inclusive cybersecurity education aligned with national defense workforce priorities.
title Empowering Future Cybersecurity Leaders: Advancing Students through FINDS Education for Digital Forensic Excellence
topic Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00222