They rode at dawn 鈥 USF President Moez Limayem and nearly 60 students from the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing 鈥 on a bus headed to the final day of the CyberBay 2026 Summit in downtown Tampa.
鈥淗i there! How are you?鈥 Limayem asked as he boarded the bus and greeted students. 鈥淰ery sharp!鈥
After shaking hands and introductions, the trip began, and Limayem reached into a bag and pulled out new USF T-shirts for the students.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have a very special edition of a T-shirt that鈥檚 made for you,鈥 he said. On the front: 鈥淧rez Moez鈥 surrounded the No. 9, signifying him as the university鈥檚 ninth president.
鈥淭onight, at 10 p.m., you can wrap this around three times and your wish will come true,鈥 he joked.
This early morning group of digital crusaders didn鈥檛 assemble just to hear another roster of industry speakers. They traveled to CyberBay to learn about the challenges they face in their future careers, the fight to keep systems secure, to protect data and how to use emerging tools to thwart the next digital threat.
The annual conference, held in downtown Tampa at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street, brings together experts from academia, industry and government to explore the technologies and partnerships shaping the future of cybersecurity.
Addressing industry needs
Limayem took the morning stage Friday to address the growing need for cybersecurity professionals, advancing technology, gaps in professional pipelines and industry talent development solutions.
鈥淭he technologies in this field are advancing at extraordinary speed,鈥 he said. 鈥淎rtificial intelligence is transforming both how attacks happen and how organizations defend themselves. Threat actors are becoming more sophisticated.鈥
That means companies need a workforce to match the growing threat, and research shows today鈥檚 workforce isn鈥檛 as robust as it needs to be. While about 5.5 million professionals make up the global cybersecurity workforce, estimates show the world needs about 10 million to adequately secure their systems.
鈥淭hat is not just a workforce issue,鈥 Limayem said. 鈥淚t is a national security issue.鈥
He referenced the students on the bus, pointing out that they are the talent pipeline.
鈥淭hey are studying secure systems, how to build trustworthy AI, how to contribute to security operations,鈥 Limayem said. 鈥淭hey are taking on internships across the nation and landing opportunities in some of the most competitive programs in the field. When we talk about closing the cybersecurity workforce gap, this is what that looks like.鈥
Nearly 3,000 students are enrolled across the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, he said, taught by more than 65 faculty members who are advancing research in areas ranging from AI assurance to secure systems and next-generation cryptography. Partnerships with industry leaders like Rapid7 and ReliaQuest are helping provide invaluable experiential learning opportunities through training, course collaboration and internship opportunities. Experiences like that help develop graduates who are ready for the real-world interactions they will encounter when they enter the workforce.
Faculty speakers, grad students and CTF competitions
During the conference鈥檚 two days, USF鈥檚 Bellini College faculty and graduate students also participated in speaker sessions that highlighted projects that connect students, researchers and industry partners to address real-world security challenges. And the college鈥檚 nationally decorated CyberHerd team took part in a capture the flag competition.
Faculty, including assistant professors Marbin Pazos-Revilla and Kurt Friday, Associate Professor John Licato and Simon Ou, a professor and director of the Rapid7 Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab at USF鈥檚 Bellini College, shared research and workforce initiatives during multiple sessions at CyberBay 2026 that explored partnerships between academia and industry. They include collaborations designed to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world security operations through hands-on training, internships and industry-aligned coursework.
These efforts aim to equip students with practical skills in areas such as threat detection, threat intelligence and AI-enabled security operations as the Tampa Bay region continues to grow as a cybersecurity hub.
Other sessions focused on the evolving technology and workforce needs shaping modern
cybersecurity operations.
USF's CyberHerd had multiple teams competing at CyberBay in various Jeopardy-style
competitions, along with other CTF challenges and a soldering and maritime village.
Bellini faculty member wins CyberBay Innovation Challenge
Licato, who is also the director of the Advancing Machine and Human Reasoning Lab
at USF and the CEO and founder of Actualization AI Inc., won CyberBay鈥檚 $70,000 top
prize for the conference鈥檚 Innovation Challenge.
The challenge was created to 鈥渘urture startups in the Greater Tampa Bay Region that
are working to democratize cybersecurity for the masses, making it a utility.鈥