This Monarch project at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) offers a unique approach to the cyber security education by matriculating a mixture of students, most with CS undergraduate degrees, and some with an interdisciplinary background. Qualified students enter an intense three-quarter core CS program comprised of undergraduate CS material. They then transfer into Masters-level program, which is completed at the end of their second year.
Through small faculty-taught classes involving extensive laboratory exercises and projects, students learn to design, build, configure, and manage systems and networks securely. Students study along with U.S. Government civilians and military officers and engage in a specially designed computer security track at CISR, one of the world's preeminent programs combining research and studies in Cyber Security and Information Assurance. Students receive regular mentoring on curriculum and employment options. The mandatory thesis research projects ensure that students have an appreciation of the challenges in cyber security and provide valuable experience in research, critical thinking, and writing.
The Monarch project reduces the current personnel gap in cyber security for the national information infrastructure through a transformative Masters degree program. It presents an innovative solution to the personnel crisis facing computer science.
