To find the surface area of a cube, we use the formula:
\[ \text{Surface Area} = 6s^2 \]
where \( s \) is the length of a side of the cube.
First, we calculate the surface area of the original cube:
- The length of a side of the original cube is \( s = 8 \) cm.
- Calculate the surface area of the original cube:
\[ \text{Surface Area} = 6(8)^2 = 6 \times 64 = 384 \text{ cm}^2 \]
Next, we apply the dilation with a scale factor of \( \frac{1}{4} \):
- The new side length of the dilated cube will be:
\[ s' = \frac{1}{4} \times 8 = 2 \text{ cm} \]
- Now we calculate the surface area of the dilated cube:
\[ \text{Surface Area of dilated cube} = 6(s')^2 = 6(2)^2 = 6 \times 4 = 24 \text{ cm}^2 \]
Thus, the surface area of the dilated cube is:
\[ \boxed{24 \text{ cm}^2} \]