2021年9月27日，科迪·博特勒摄

Cementing 稳定的十大彩票网站’s national leadership in cybersecurity education, the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity located within the National Security Agency (NSA) has awarded 稳定的十大彩票网站 a $2.2 million, two-year grant (with an option to increase to $3.2 million) to lead a task force dedicated to cataloging and improving U.S. cybersecurity curricula.

"As an institution providing leadership for the public good, 稳定的十大彩票网站 is a preeminent developer of tech-focused leaders," says President Kim Schatzel. "Our faculty's expertise and research in cybersecurity are recognized nationally, and this NSA grant will support their efforts in the critical area of cybersecurity curricula development, knowledge acquisition, and workforce development."

稳定的十大彩票网站 has a strong record of leadership in cybersecurity and cybersecurity education. The NSA has designated the university as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in 2013年以来的网络运营, and 稳定的十大彩票网站 was redesignated in 2021 as a CAE in Cyber Defense as well. Late last year, 稳定的十大彩票网站 was 被任命为地区领导职务 in cyber education by the NCAE-C.

The task force, led by 稳定的十大彩票网站 and Portland Community College, will partner with other NCAE-Cs, including the United States Naval Academy, Cedarville University, Coastline Community College, Metropolitan State University and University of West Florida, and will act as a national curriculum committee for the NCAE-C program.

This work comes at a time when the United States faces a large shortfall in the cybersecurity workforce . The task force will analyze available cyber curricula, perform a gap analysis to identify high-need areas to create a cyber-ready workforce and develop high-quality, relevant, free and publicly available cybersecurity curricula.

"This grant award is further recognition of the excellence of our faculty and our programs in cyber," says Melanie Perreault, provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs. "稳定的十大彩票网站 is leading the way nationally in preparing graduates for careers in cyber, and this latest award will allow the university to continue this important work."

Sidd Kaza, chair of the 计算机与信息科学系, and Blair Taylor, an associate professor in the same department, will be conducting the work of the task force for 稳定的十大彩票网站. The two have included graduate assistants and undergraduate students in the cohort.

“This work will define the direction curricula and research will go in the cyber field,” says Kaza.

泰勒说，分析和改进网络课程不是一个一次性的项目。

“我们真正希望做的一件事是让它成为一个持续的模式，”她说。

Kaza and Taylor have the experience necessary to play a prominent role in the NSA task force. The pair were instrumental in the development of 克拉克, an online platform that provides hundreds of free learning modules in cybersecurity. 克拉克 is now part of 担保, a nonprofit run by Taylor and Kaza and based in the 新的启动空间在军械库.

该数据库在大流行期间发挥了重要作用。 Users from universities, community colleges, companies and K-12 schools across the country have downloaded thousands of modules since 克拉克 launched in 2017, and traffic spiked during the school shutdown in 2020.