"New Cybersecurity Institute To Train ROTC and DOD-Skilled Civilian Workers"
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) awarded a $1.5 million grant to Washington State University (WSU) to establish a new cybersecurity education and research program. The Northwest Virtual Institute for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CySER) program establishes a cyber operations research and teaching center at WSU. CySER has a consortium of Pacific Northwest research partners, including Montana State University (MSU), Columbia Basin College (CBC), Central Washington University (CWU), and the University of Idaho (UI). The program will train ROTC and DOD-skilled civilian workers in computer science and other majors involving cyber basics, operations, or defense. Trainees will be able to earn bachelor's degrees and specialized certificates through the program. Training will be delivered via studio-based learning, teamwork, hands-on problem-solving approaches, and more. CySER's areas of research focus include cyber education, network security, information security, cyber-physical systems, Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), software security, and quality assurance. This article continues to discuss the goals, approaches, and research areas of the CySER program.