FAMU’s hard work in a high-demand, high-tech field has attracted national attention.In response to FAMU’s success in training students for information assurance (IA) jobs, the U.S. Department of Education’s Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program recently awarded the university a large grant to accelerate its productivity in this area.
The project, Broadening Information Assurance Awareness and Competence, is potentially a three-year, $600,000 award. It will help students studying information assurance in FAMU’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS).
“This grant provides the funding we have needed to move to the next level in the evolution of our information assurance track,” said Edward Jones, chair of CIS and the grant's principal investigator.
“We are determined to be among the first HBCU to achieve National Security Agency designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAE). This designation also positions the university to compete for funds to support students and to expand research.”
IA is one of the fastest growing areas of information technology. It addresses concerns ranging from individual privacy and information protection in commerce, entertainment and social interaction to national security.
The field has become one of the most popular tracks of study in CIS. Ever since CIS launched its IA program in 2004, nearly 80 students have completed the track and received professional certificates recognized by the Department of Homeland Security and the Committee for National Security Systems.
In addition to increasing the number of FAMU students who enter IA professions, CIS aims to use the grant money to create a Center for Secure Computing and Information Assurance.
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This is a good place to be aggressive.
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