This proposal offers to teams Mississippi State University?s (MSU) Southeast Region Regional Forensics Training Center and its Center for Critical Infrastructure Protection with collaborators at Auburn University and Tuskegee University to provide tactical level occupational training to America?s veterans by collaborating with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and offering no-cost training at or near VA hospitals. The proposal requests funding to support the enhancement of an existing digital forensics curriculum and then eventually installing it within the Veterans Administration system nation-wide. The proposal addresses a recognized and documented workforce need for skilled cyber infrastructure employees and offers to address this need by training a diverse community. The proposal builds on the combined capabilities of MSU, Auburn, and Tuskegee. MSU and Auburn are both National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) and Tuskegee is currently pursuing that certification. The proposal integrates research into its training offering and strongly leverages an existing successful training initiative.
