Speaking
Talks, panels, workshops, and media on cybersecurity education, the human side of security, and human-AI collaboration
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
My research has three standing threads. Every talk fits at least one. The examples under each are talks or papers I’ve already done, so you can ask for one as-is or have me build something new.
Cybersecurity Education
How we get people ready for cyber work, from K-12 classrooms up through graduate programs, and who decides what “ready” means. That takes in curriculum and case studies, hands-on ranges and simulations, and the workforce frameworks and numbers.
Examples: the cyber workforce gap as a measurement problem (JCERP 2026). Clinic-in-a-Box, a portable cyber range and an AI stakeholder simulator for practicing real client work (JCERP 2026, IEEE FIE 2026). Lining up the dozen-plus K-12 cybersecurity frameworks so teachers stop rebuilding the same crosswalk (NICE K12 2027).
The Human Side of Security
People and technologies shape each other, and security work shows it quickly. I use postphenomenology to look at what tools actually do to the people using them, including the ones built to deceive, like AI-enhanced social engineering. (And yes, that includes the phishing training that’s supposed to protect us.)
Examples: adversarial intentionality and technology-mediated deception (Techné, in press). Teaching cyber ethics through case artifacts that live in the grey areas (PROMPT 2026).
Human-AI Collaboration in Cyber Work and Teaching
What happens to learning and judgment when AI does part of the work, and how to treat it as a teammate without handing it decisions that belong to people. Posthumanist theory helps here, and I try to turn it into things a teacher or a team lead can do on Monday.
Examples: “True Teamwork,” on teaching students to work with AI as teammates in cybersecurity (LATTE 2026, NICE K12 2025). AI as co-learner in graduate education (MSU Denver GRADTALK 2025). A posthuman instructional design framework for AI-enhanced cyber courses (JCISSE 2026). AI and industry, for K-12 teachers and district leaders (Beyond Textbooks 2026).
Formats
Keynotes, panels, workshops, guest lectures, and podcast or media interviews. Virtual or in person. I’m happy to adapt a talk for K-12 teachers, faculty, practitioners, or a general audience.
Recent Invited Talks
The full list of invited and conference presentations is on my CV.
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).