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CyLab News: Through CyLab, US Government Designates Carnegie Mellon as Center for Academic Excellence in Research
Through the university-wide efforts of its cybersecurity education and research center, Carnegie Mellon CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University has been re-designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and designated for the first time as a Center for Academic Excellence in Research. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security awarded the designation through 2014.
“This is an outstanding honor for the university as Carnegie Mellon CyLab pioneers development of cutting-edge cybersecurity tools, and we continue to shape information security leaders through our competitive programs at the Information Networking Institute (INI),” said Mark S. Kamlet, Carnegie Mellon provost and senior vice president.
Presentations will be made to new and re-designated centers June 3 during an awards ceremony at the Red Lion Hotel in Seattle, Wash.
“I am honored to represent Carnegie Mellon at this prestigious award ceremony, which recognizes our strength in fostering outstanding educational programs that support the nation’s cybersecurity needs,” said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, INI director and director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab.
The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence programs. This partnership was formed in April 2004 to protect the nation’s critical infrastructures, which are essential to maintaining a strong economy and our national security.
Through the university’s designation as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, Carnegie Mellon graduate students in information security may be eligible to participate in the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program (SFS), which offers a full scholarship and stipend in exchange for a commitment to work for the government after graduation.
“I’m very confident that my INI degree in information security, technology and management will expand my career as I continue to find new challenges in the information security field,” said John Truelove, who attended Carnegie Mellon through the SFS program.
Truelove, who must spend two years working for a government agency or federally funded research center under the program, begins work at MIT’s Lincoln Lab later this summer. In the past six years, the SFS Program has provided $12 million in stipends and tuition to 124 students at Carnegie Mellon.
The Information Assurance Capacity Building Program is another program at Carnegie Mellon designed to educate tomorrow’s information security leaders and faculty. Since 2002, more than $1.1 million has gone towards the Information Assurance Capacity Building Program, which is designed to guide faculty at minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, to develop curricula with academic enrichment from the INI and Carnegie Mellon CyLab. Three participating institutions, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, California State University San Bernardino and Texas A&M University, have consequently earned designations as Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance.
“This latest designation and these programs are an excellent example of the broad commitment by Carnegie Mellon CyLab and the College of Engineering to support the nation’s cybersecurity needs,” said Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering and founder of Carnegie Mellon CyLab.