The National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have redesignated NSU as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense (CAE IA/CD) for the academic years of 2014 to 2021.
NSU is Florida’s first four-year institution to receive this designation. The school was previously recognized in 2005 and 2008 and was reselected for its specializations in network security engineering and secure systems administration.
NSU’s Director of Marketing and Communications Melissa Ruidiaz said, “Since our first designation as Center of Academic Excellence in 2005, information security has been a significant educational and research focus at NSU.”
Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences Professor James Cannady said that there are approximately 300 academic and institutional guidelines that institutions must adhere to to be designated a Center of Academic Excellence. Some of the requirements include submitting copies of class syllabi from GSCIS, providing background information on GSCIS professors and having a security center and manager.
“This is the first, most significant and really the only major accrediting certification for the discipline of information security,” Cannady said. “It lets potential students and people at other universities know that your institution is doing an excellent job of imparting information of security, such as education and research.”
According to Ruidiaz, NSU’s initiatives in information assurance and cyber defense are best recognized in the graduate programs. The Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences offers master’s programs in computer science, information security, information technology, management information systems, software engineering, information technology in education and computer information systems.
The doctoral programs offered include computer science, information assurance, information systems, computer information systems and computing technology in education.
“We’re supposed to be innovative. We’re supposed to be doing things and leading the way…the certification is a push for us to continue to improve in the future,” Cannady said.
This is the first year the doctorate program of information assurance is offered at NSU and Cannady said that this is the first program of its kind to offer a non-traditional approach. Students meet with the professor a few times a semester, rather than every week, so that they can spend the majority of the time applying their skills to a professional experience. The program is geared toward part-time students who are already immersed in the field but wanted more education and certification.
“Most of our students are mid-career level, and what they’re needing and wanting is to demonstrate their expertise in security through a doctoral degree,” Cannady said.
GSCIS Dean Eric Ackerman has asked Cannady to develop programs for undergraduates as well. Cannady said that he hopes to see the programs start soon and that they will include a Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security and training programs that will allow students to get certified in specialized areas of information assurance or cyber security without having to pursue a graduate program.
Along with the graduate programs, NSU is also in the process of building the Center for Collaborative Research, which will include South Florida’s first security lab. The lab will provide resources and space for students and professors to test and evaluate new technology that may potentially be put on the market for cyber security.
“Dr. Hanbury has made cyber security a major focus of the research that’s going to be done at the university,” Cannady said. “We’re leveraging the things that we’ve done, building upon the programs that we already have, and looking to the future to come up with new programs, as well.”
For more information on the Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences, visit scis.nova.edu. For more information on the designation, visit nsa.gov/ia/academic_outreach/nat_cae/.
