EECS continues to be designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance (IA)/Cyber Defense (CD) by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

The University of Kansas EECS department recently received notification of its renewal as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance (IA)/Cyber Defense (CD) by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to NSA/DHS, the purpose of the National CAE designation program is "to promote higher education in IA and CD and prepare a growing number of IA/CD professionals to meet the need to reduce vulnerabilities in the Nation’s networks.” KU received its first CAE-IAE designation in 2009. The designation is renewed every five years.

The program, originally named CAE-IAE, was initiated by NSA in 1998. In 2014, the program was renamed to CAE-IA/CD, and the evaluation criteria were significantly updated. To be designated as a CAE-IA/CD, the institution needs to demonstrate that it maintains a strong, active, comprehensive and interdisciplinary information assurance program. Meanwhile, the institution’s CS/CoE/IT curriculums must cover 22 IA/CD “Knowledge Units” (17 core and 5 optional), which includes 228 course topics and 72 course outcomes in total. KU EECS/ITTC has built a strong cybersecurity research and education program in recent years. Many EECS administrators and faculty members contributed to the re-designation application: More than 10 security-related courses are offered at Lawrence and Edwards campuses; more than $5 Million federal research grants have been funded in recent years; and KU EECS consistently publishes secutity papers in high quality venues.

Dr. Leonard T. Reinsfelder, Associate Director for Education and Training at NSA is presenting the award along with: Lynne Clark, Chief, National Information Assurance Education and Training Program at NSA, and Jacqueline Sullivan, Acting Program Lead for the National Cybersecurity Training & Education Program at DHS.