Speaking
Talks, workshops, and panels on cybersecurity education, AI, and technology ethics
I speak to faculty, K-12 teachers, researchers, and people who work in cybersecurity. Most of what I talk about comes straight out of my research and my classroom, so the examples are ones I’ve used with students.
What I Talk About
Cybersecurity Education and the Workforce
How we prepare people for cyber work: curriculum, case studies, immersive and simulated environments, and the workforce frameworks that decide what counts as being ready for the job.
Learning Alongside AI
How AI changes what students learn and how they make calls when it does part of the work. Posthumanist theory helps here, and I try to turn it into things a teacher can do on Monday.
Ethics and Technology
Postphenomenology applied to the tools people use every day, including the uncomfortable cases, like technologies built to deceive.
Recent Invited Speaking Engagements
Beyond Textbooks SuperConference 2026 (Invited Panelist, Main Stage) “AI and Industry: Panel Discussion with Current Leaders” with Kate Carter, Gary George, and Dr. Thomas B. Wilson Vail School District, Tucson, Arizona, for K-12 teachers and district leaders
LATTE Program, Center for Cybersecurity Innovation 2026 (Invited Guest Presentation) “True Teamwork: Teaching Students to Work WITH AI as Teammates in Cybersecurity” Virtual professional-development session for a middle-school teacher cohort in the LATTE (Learning About Techniques and Tools for E-security) program
MSU Denver GRADTALK 2025 (Invited Presentation) “AI as Co-Learner: Posthuman Approaches to Graduate Education” Metropolitan State University of Denver’s graduate education speaker series
NICE Framework Users Group Open Forum 2025 (Invited Presentation) “Posthumanism in Cybersecurity Education” with Stephen Miller NIST’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
Evidence in Motion Faculty Symposium 2024 (Invited Presentation) “Pondering a Posthuman Pedagogy: Redefining ‘Learner’ in the AI Era” with Dr. Angela Gunder
Upcoming
NICE K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference 2027 (New Orleans, Louisiana; March 2027) “Stop Rebuilding the Same Crosswalk: 12+ Cybersecurity Frameworks, One Open Comparison” with Rob Honomichl Accepted breakout session
Recent Conference Presentations
EdMedia + Innovate Learning 2026 (Edinburgh, Scotland) “Systematic AI-Human Collaboration for Worldbuilding in Cybersecurity Education: A Practice-Based Framework” Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)
UPCEA Digital Teaching & Learning Conference 2026 (Poster) “Instructional Design with AI as Co-Learner: Posthumanism in Action” with Angela Gunder and Joshua Herron
NICE K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference 2025 (Nashville, Tennessee) “True Teamwork: Building Human-AI Partnerships for Tomorrow’s Cybersecurity Challenges” with Rob Honomichl and Paul Wagner NIST National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
OLC Innovate 2024 (Denver, Colorado; Invited, Selected as Featured Presentation) “Pondering a Posthuman Pedagogy: Redefining ‘Learner’ in the AI Era” with Dr. Angela Gunder
ISCAP 2024 (Information Systems & Computing Academic Professionals) “Preparing Posthumanist Perspectives on AI-Human Collaboration in Developing Cyber Ethics Curricula” with J. Lowery, D. Poehlman, and W. Yowika
EDULEARN24 (16th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies) “Reconceptualizing Cybersecurity Tools as Educational Actors in the Posthuman Era”
Bio for Organizers
Feel free to use this in a program or introduction.
Ryan Straight is an Honors and Assistant Professor of Cyber Operations in the University of Arizona’s College of Information Science, where he is Director of the MA{VR}X Lab and Coordinator and Advisor for the MS in Cyber Operations. His research applies postphenomenology and posthumanist theory to cybersecurity education, with a focus on human-AI collaboration and judgment. He teaches cyber law, ethics, and policy, and is the author of Cyber Dimensions: Immersive Case Studies Across Digital Domains (Kendall Hunt, 2025).