June 12, 2003
CMU will host a symposium June 14-17 at the University Center to discuss the urgency of developing a larger information security talent pool, and the need for academia, government and the private sector to partner in securing the nation's many critical infrastructures. The 2003 Cyber Service/Cyber Corps Student Symposium kicks off Sunday, June 15 with a keynote address by Howard Schmidt, director of security at eBay and former cybersecurity adviser to President Bush. He will discuss how the nation should be rethinking security.
Other symposium panels include topics ranging from computer-related crime to the opportunities available for women and minorities interested in Information Security careers. More than 160 students from 22 universities, including Carnegie Mellon, will participate in the symposium and an accompanying job fair. The students are part of a new federal program to help colleges and universities train the next generation of information security professionals. Carnegie Mellon has received more than $4 million in grants through the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Federal Cyber Service program to award scholarships to students who study information security and enter government service for at least two years after graduation. The grants also enabled Carnegie Mellon to develop and offer an Information Security Capacity Building program to institutions serving large minority populations.
"The program is critically important because it is producing security experts who will play a key role in helping protect the Federal government's information infrastructure in the coming years. The more schools that can develop these information security programs, the more students we can turn out with this kind of expertise," said Don McGillen, executive director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Communications Security (C3S) and a program leader.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's story "Expert assesses the state of cyber security at CMU:"
Carnegie Mellon is playing a big role in cyber security and would like Pittsburgh to become the cyber security capital of the country through research and education programs, Pradeep Khosla, Director, Center for Computer and Communications Security; Head, Electrical and Computer Engineering said.
The university gathered staff from engineering, public policy, computer science and the CERT Coordination Center and from other institutions designated as centers of excellence under the National Security Agency's Infosec Education and Training Program. (Excerpted from the Carnegie Mellon News Release, June 12, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 16.)