Faculty members at Syracuse University will offer 30 scholarships in Multidisciplinary Systems Assurance Education for graduate students. Systems assurance comprises the related areas of information assurance, computer security, and infrastructure protection. With the continuing growth of computing and communication technology, and its increasing integration into almost all aspects of our society, systems assurance will play a vital role in the future of our nation. As this integration takes place, many issues not related to the core technology arise, issues of management, public policy, law, education, and ethics. For this reason, systems assurance is truly a multidisciplinary area of intellectual inquiry, and we are therefore providing a multidisciplinary, pan-University education program in systems assurance.
The Center for Systems Assurance (CSA) at Syracuse is an NSA designated Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education. We are expanding the CSA beyond the L. C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) to include faculty from Information Studies (IST) and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell). This expansion will be followed in later years by inclusion of additional IA-related areas, including law, philosophy, and education.
The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department, within ECS, currently offers Masters degrees in Computer Science or Computer Engineering with a concentration in Systems Assurance. Students in these courses take the core courses their major (three or four courses), a five-course concentration in a Systems Assurance technology core, and at least one elective from an allied area. We propose to implement similar tracks in IST and Maxwell. We will support students in ECS for the first year of the grant, and then support students from all three schools when their programs are on-line.
