This past week was Washington Mardi Gras week, a time when many of Louisiana’s businessmen and government officials swarm Washington DC to celebrate Mardi Gras (DC style). It is a great way to make connections with others from throughout the state while also doing other business in the DC area.

Kathy and I departed to DC early Wednesday after attending the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Banquet and participating in other meetings in Bossier City on Tuesday. After wheels down in DC, I headed over to Capitol Hill to meet with staff and members of our congressional delegation. Most of my Hill meetings were with Craig Spohn and our Cyber Innovation Center colleagues as we were updating the delegation on our cyber and Barksdale-related projects.

Thursday and Friday were filled with meetings in the Executive Office Buildings at the White House. These meetings also included a focus on our efforts to develop and deliver national cyber education programs. The K-12 programs developed by the CIC’s excellent staff, led by Kevin Nolten and with some support of Tech faculty and staff, are having impressive national-scale impacts. Our cyber workforce development efforts at the institution build off of these initiatives to attract more cyber jobs to the area.

Throughout the week, Kathy and I were able to visit with other friends and colleagues from universities and many businesses and communities across the state.