This project expands the capacity of SBU and UH to produce high-quality professionals in information assurance and computer security that can make a definitive contribution towards the problem of protecting our nation's critical information infrastructure. SBU has put together one of the nation's strongest research programs in Information Assurance. SBU has been designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) as a Center of Academic Excellence in IA Education (CAE/IAE). Its IA education and research activities are coordinated by the Center for Cybersecurity. SBU currently offers several graduate level courses in IA, and offers information assurance concentrations at the Master's and Ph.D. levels. Moreover, these programs have been certified to meet the National Training Standard 4011 for Information Systems Security Professionals set by the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS). This project expands the reach of the IA curriculum to the undergraduate level, and serves to train faculty from other institutions to develop similar educational programs in IA. Specifically, the objectives of the SBU component of this collaborative proposal are: (1) curriculum and educational material development, (2) faculty development at UH and other institutions, and (3) laboratory development. At UH capacity building occurs on several fronts: (1) building an outstanding concentration in computer security and information assurance by adapting and implementing the exemplary education materials, curricula, and courses in security and assurance already developed at SBU, (2) development of a computing environment similar to the one proposed to be built at SBU for teaching and research in computer security and information assurance, (3) development of new courses and course modules for computer security and information assurance courses, and dissemination through the World Wide Web, and (4) faculty development at regional institutions in the second year of the program.
