Class in Session: Chainguard Contributes to the Higher Education Community

Chainguard is proud to announce that we’ve joined Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Venture Network as a Startup Partner — a program connecting CMU’s world-class cybersecurity researchers and students with innovative industry leaders building a safer digital future.

Partnering with CMU to secure the future of cybersecurity

The CyLab Venture Network is a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to help emerging cybersecurity companies collaborate directly with the university’s ecosystem of researchers, entrepreneurs, and students. Through mentorship, joint research opportunities, and knowledge sharing, the network strengthens the connection between academic innovation and industry implementation.

For Chainguard, the partnership represents a full-circle moment. Our Chief Technology Officer, Matt Moore, is a CMU alumnus, and this collaboration allows us to give back to the community that helped shape his career and many others in the industry, while supporting the next generation of cybersecurity innovators.

“Chainguard was founded on the idea that securing open source software requires shared responsibility across the ecosystem. CMU has been at the forefront of cybersecurity research for decades, and we’re excited to work with the CyLab Venture Network to bring those ideas into practice.”

Supporting students, research, and entrepreneurship

As part of our engagement, Chainguard will collaborate with CMU students and researchers on projects focused on open source security, software supply chain transparency, and secure-by-default container infrastructure. We’ll also participate in discussions and mentoring opportunities that connect academic insights with real-world challenges in software security.

This partnership builds on our ongoing commitment to higher education and its research institutions, where open source software is a foundational part of teaching, collaboration, and innovation. By working directly with universities, we aim to make the open source tools they rely on more secure, maintainable, and compliant while accelerating student and academic prototyping.

Advancing compliance and security in higher education

Universities face increasing pressure to meet cybersecurity standards, particularly under frameworks like the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0, which governs how institutions handle sensitive research data for federal contracts.

In a recent Chainguard blog, we explored how R1 universities can simplify CMMC 2.0 compliance with Chainguard Containers. By using Chainguard’s minimal, continuously verified container images, institutions can reduce the scope of their compliance burden while improving their security posture.

Our approach helps universities adopt a “secure by design” foundation that aligns with federal cybersecurity mandates without slowing down research and collaboration.

Hands-on learning at NC State University and the University of Baltimore

Our engagement with higher education goes beyond policy and into practice. At North Carolina State University, Chainguard is serving as an industry sponsor for a master-level practicum course, where small groups of students work with real-world companies on applied cybersecurity challenges.

This semester, a team of NCSU students is collaborating with Chainguard to make it easier to identify vulnerabilities in the open source components that power Chainguard’s secure container images. Their work supports safer software not just for our customers, but for the broader open source ecosystem.

“Working with NCSU students to improve the open source ecosystem has been gratifying,” said John Speed Meyers, a strategist at Chainguard, who works closely with the students. “The collaboration is off to a great start, and we can’t wait to see the results.”

The practicum model offers students valuable, hands-on experience while providing Chainguard with fresh perspectives and research insights. It’s a win-win collaboration that underscores our belief in building security through shared learning and contribution. Once the program has finished, we will share more about it later in the year.

Chainguard is working with the University of Baltimore as well. In partnership with the University of Baltimore’s Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, Chainguard will lead workshops for students and faculty around best practices for application containerization and deployment, discuss CVEs that are often present in existing images, and demonstrate how to leverage explicitly safer IT environments. The program will seek to enable secure customer-facing applications and business continuity that prioritizes innovation over patching. In the future, both parties will explore opportunities to incorporate Chainguard’s Starter Images into the classroom and experiential learning opportunities.

“Chainguard not only offers secure products for businesses but also essential opportunities for students to learn and discuss cybersecurity at all levels. Early learners can focus on the foundations, addressed by Chainguard in their safe images, and advanced ones will experience a solid infrastructure on which to build and secure their own software solutions.”

Commitment to the public sector and higher education

Chainguard’s engagement with these institutions and others builds on our growing involvement in the public sector and higher-ed community. As highlighted in Carahsoft’s 2025 Tech Spotlight, Chainguard is working closely with universities, government agencies, and research organizations to strengthen the open source software that underpins mission-critical systems.

By providing secure, minimal, and verifiable containers, we’re helping public institutions more confidently leverage open source while meeting stringent compliance and security requirements.

Building the next generation of secure open source

Our partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Venture Network marks another milestone in Chainguard’s mission to be the safe source for all open source. Together with students, researchers, and educators, we’re creating pathways for innovation that are not only open but also trusted and resilient.

Chainguard is always looking to hire the best and brightest new grads. We will also have more information about internships coming soon. If you are interested in learning more or wish to work with Chainguard at your university, check out our careers page and reach out today.