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https://odu.edu/news/2020/9/school_of_cy...=HP-Slider

Quote:Old Dominion University is set to launch the School of Cybersecurity, the first of its kind in the country, on Oct. 1, the first day of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Expanding from the existing Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CCSER), the new school builds on the University's efforts to offer cybersecurity expertise to the Hampton Roads region, Virginia and the nation.

"The School of Cybersecurity is a great example of ODU's commitment to providing educational solutions to address real challenges in our region and the world," President John R. Broderick said. "It embraces an interdisciplinary foundation to expand the pipeline for a diverse group of cybersecurity, resilience and engineering professionals who will be responsible for safeguarding our critical infrastructure."

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, cybersecurity jobs are now growing faster than the average for all other occupations. Last year, Cybersecurity Ventures predicted there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally by 2021.

Old Dominion is the first research university in the country to launch a School of Cybersecurity offering interdisciplinary degree programs for both undergraduate and graduate students. Georgia Tech recently opened its School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, which does not include an undergraduate focus.

The school will operate under the Office of Academic Affairs and report to Brian Payne, vice provost for academic affairs.

"This is the right time and ODU is the right institution to have such a unique school," Payne said. "To fully realize the growth of tech talent in Virginia, it is imperative that we have a diverse pool of professionals able to help secure the technology. There are more than 54,000 cybersecurity jobs open in the state. We are preparing our students for these jobs."

In 2019, the National Security Agency (NSA) designated ODU a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations Fundamental for 2019-2024. The University gained the designation by demonstrating the faculty research grants and publications related to the field of cyber operations and the ability to provide undergraduate curricula that satisfy the necessary academic requirements.

The school "draws on Old Dominion's well-established state and national recognition as a leader in cybersecurity workforce development," Payne said. "This is an important step for ODU as it meets the needs of students while also offering a substantial positive impact on the Hampton Roads region, the state and the nation."

The move to become a school is largely driven by the increase in student interest in cybersecurity programs since they began in 2015.

"We started with 11 students," said Hongyi "Michael" Wu, director of CCSER who will lead the new school. "We now have roughly 800 students, so it made sense to create an academic unit to better support them in an education environment that they can call home."

Student interest as well as industry demand also facilitated the need for additional degrees. Since 2018, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approved two cybersecurity degrees for ODU - a Master of Science, which has grown to more than 100 students, and a Bachelor of Science, launched in the fall of 2019.

"For ODU, this is more than a name change," said Payne. "As the demand for cybersecurity education continues to increase, in addition to our ongoing research, we want to expand our focus on students to ensure they have the support they need to pursue these careers that are so critical to our nation's workforce, particularly its economic and national security."

Research funding will be used to hire research scientists in the upcoming year. In addition, more than three dozen faculty across campus will be affiliated with the school.

Old Dominion's School of Cybersecurity will soon be located in Monarch Hall.

Good move, hopefully not too late. Lack of talent has been killing us for about 10 years and these jobs have gone elsewhere. Probably missed any near term chance to pull the cyber operations NAF commands from Lackland with the ACC reorg, but I am sure there will be other opportunities in the future.

Very nice! We're in a hot bed too with the new CMMC requirements going live in January. If you're a gov contractor and are part of ownership and aren't aware of CMMC you best get to googling.

Good move by ODU. Better late to the party than not going at all.

It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Its long overdue but i am glad they finally got this going.

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

(10-01-2020 12:25 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

According to their website:

"UTSA has three research centers: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute for Cyber Security and the Cyber Center for Security and Analytics. Research conducted at UTSA aims to combat global security challenges encountered by individuals, industry, government and the military. The university’s research specialties include information security management and strategy, applied network and information systems security, government and industry cyber preparedness, and secure software and hardware design and engineering."


I do know the Air Force is heavily involved in the UTSA outfit, which has become somewhat of a farm team for the AF and its contractors. Not sure I understand the difference between a research center, a degree under the business "school" or a "school" in and of itself, but if it is really a big deal and a discriminator, good for us.

(10-01-2020 12:58 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:25 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

According to their website:

"UTSA has three research centers: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute for Cyber Security and the Cyber Center for Security and Analytics. Research conducted at UTSA aims to combat global security challenges encountered by individuals, industry, government and the military. The university’s research specialties include information security management and strategy, applied network and information systems security, government and industry cyber preparedness, and secure software and hardware design and engineering."


I do know the Air Force is heavily involved in the UTSA outfit, which has become somewhat of a farm team for the AF and its contractors. Not sure I understand the difference between a research center, a degree under the business "school" or a "school" in and of itself, but if it is really a big deal and a discriminator, good for us.

It will make the degree offerings at ODU more specialized and not require students to take upper level electives in completely unrelated coursework. For instance, being in the business school, UTSA cyber security students have to take business courses like accounting and econ.

(10-01-2020 01:20 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:58 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:25 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

According to their website:

"UTSA has three research centers: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute for Cyber Security and the Cyber Center for Security and Analytics. Research conducted at UTSA aims to combat global security challenges encountered by individuals, industry, government and the military. The university’s research specialties include information security management and strategy, applied network and information systems security, government and industry cyber preparedness, and secure software and hardware design and engineering."


I do know the Air Force is heavily involved in the UTSA outfit, which has become somewhat of a farm team for the AF and its contractors. Not sure I understand the difference between a research center, a degree under the business "school" or a "school" in and of itself, but if it is really a big deal and a discriminator, good for us.

It will make the degree offerings at ODU more specialized and not require students to take upper level electives in completely unrelated coursework. For instance, being in the business school, UTSA cyber security students have to take business courses like accounting and econ.

That's appealing to someone like me too. I have thought about getting my Masters or MBA but at this point I'm 40 and don't really need it. But, I do have the interest and desire but ODU doesn't have anything IT Masters related for what I want. And I don't want to do the generic MBA and take fundamentals of marketing, investment strategy, global macro economics. Creighton, GA Tech, UAB, W&M, and UofR all do. I think there's a area that ODU is missing out on so glad they're filling it in Cyber Security. I think there's a bunch of middle career people who don't see the value in MBA's and are looking for more than a certificate program that's more specialized.

(10-01-2020 12:58 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:25 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

According to their website:

"UTSA has three research centers: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute for Cyber Security and the Cyber Center for Security and Analytics. Research conducted at UTSA aims to combat global security challenges encountered by individuals, industry, government and the military. The university’s research specialties include information security management and strategy, applied network and information systems security, government and industry cyber preparedness, and secure software and hardware design and engineering."


I do know the Air Force is heavily involved in the UTSA outfit, which has become somewhat of a farm team for the AF and its contractors. Not sure I understand the difference between a research center, a degree under the business "school" or a "school" in and of itself, but if it is really a big deal and a discriminator, good for us.

That is part of my job description for the firm i work and what we do is only part of security. There are so many layers and stages that things pass through as they emerge and wane. That description is the bottled wine of wines and is really generic. From the time someone frames and executes an attack to the time they get hold of the data things pass many layers and there in lies the research. Some focus on detecting the threat, some stopping it, some controlling the damage and some cleaning it up and making sure there are no passive listeners that are still rooted in. And then there is application security that is on top of network, system and user security that needs to be accounted for so there are literally many organizations and their standards involved in the path of data an enterprise or a government organization deals with. You get the point there is so much involved its hard to define and describe in a single post. A cybersecurity school if i am not wrong gets involved in the basics of those things while teaching students what is involved in every step and how to navigate where as UTSA's course description looks like they are taking one swipe approach for industry problems. I hope this school comes to fruition soon and we get to work with organizations like NIST, OISF and NCSC etc. This is a very good thing and frankly long overdue. I want ODU to be the hybrid of U Cal Berkley and MIT and one can dream i guess.

(10-01-2020 11:39 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  It's the first School of Cybersecurity in the country. if we're late, everyone else is later.

Somehow I didn’t recognize it’s a whole school. That is interesting. Thought it was a new degree program. Pretty cool. (The school, not my reading comprehension :))

Agree, I haven't looked but are they partnering with the Navy or local DSS? If anyone has ever had to work through nist 800-171, dfars, or even csia certifications for industrial security that field is wide open. Glad we're doing it given our location, maybe a little late compared to other programs but that might not be a bad thing.

"The number of students graduating with a degree in cybersecurity has gone from six five years ago to 108 last year; the number of students enrolled in cybersecurity degree programs increased from 11 in fall 2015 to 725 in fall 2020."

(10-01-2020 01:20 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:58 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:25 PM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:15 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(10-01-2020 12:06 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  UTSA has had one for quite awhile.

UTSA has a cybersecurity bachelors and masters degree in their business school. Not the same thing as an entire school dedicated to the field of study.

Yep This will be much more than what UTSA can offer with a degree. If done correctly we will be opening ourselves to a slew of research opportunities that exist out there right now and potentially underway for making an entry in the very near future. Can't wait to see how this unfolds. Exciting news indeed.

According to their website:

"UTSA has three research centers: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute for Cyber Security and the Cyber Center for Security and Analytics. Research conducted at UTSA aims to combat global security challenges encountered by individuals, industry, government and the military. The university’s research specialties include information security management and strategy, applied network and information systems security, government and industry cyber preparedness, and secure software and hardware design and engineering."


I do know the Air Force is heavily involved in the UTSA outfit, which has become somewhat of a farm team for the AF and its contractors. Not sure I understand the difference between a research center, a degree under the business "school" or a "school" in and of itself, but if it is really a big deal and a discriminator, good for us.

It will make the degree offerings at ODU more specialized and not require students to take upper level electives in completely unrelated coursework. For instance, being in the business school, UTSA cyber security students have to take business courses like accounting and econ.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense.

Glad we're doing it the dedicated way.

“Old Dominion University announced Thursday its School of Cybersecurity and Center for High Impact Practices has received a $3.9 million National Science Foundation grant to offer scholarships to cybersecurity students.”

https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article...p-program/

(02-19-2021 07:11 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  “Old Dominion University announced Thursday its School of Cybersecurity and Center for High Impact Practices has received a $3.9 million National Science Foundation grant to offer scholarships to cybersecurity students.”

https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article...p-program/

Thats awesome. That field is going to be really strong for the foreseeable future. Especially in our region. With DHS and GSA jumping onto the CMMC train. The impacts are going to ripple well beyond the dod and federal contractors. Municipalities and private will build on nist recommendations as the modern battlefield continues to evolve.