In keeping with continued efforts to meet the needs of the 21st Century workforce, the Cybersecurity program prepares students to be productive in the profession; with exceptional undergraduate training developed through an experience that is challenging but firmly based on the faculty dedication in teaching and research, student accomplishments, and collaborative works. The Department also maintains student chapters of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and Cybersecurity & Computer Science Club.
The major research interests of the faculty are:
The combined publication records of faculty members in the areas of Cybersecurity and Computer science is over 200 in both National and International proceedings and journals.
Currently Cybersecurity Department has grants from Title III, Cyber Innovation Center, and Louisiana Workforce Development. Faculty are submitting grants from NSF, Air Force Research Labs, and other federal agencies to support the student scholarships, assistantships, and internships.
The Department has established, committed and long term partnerships with major corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions and increased the number of co-op and intern positions and career opportunities to students. Graduates of the Cybersecurity program are expected by major corporations and government agencies with starting salaries in the range of $50,000 to $75,000.
The Department of Cybersecurity has the state-of-the-art equipment in the computer laboratories. The computing facilities support student learning in the areas of Cybersecurity and Computer science: Big Data and Cloud Security, Hacking, Penetration Testing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning & Image Classification, Cyber Gaming, Computer Graphics, Web Programming, Robotics, and Network Security. The facilities available to Cybersecurity majors include the uCertify training material for certification courses. The classroom instruction and specialized projects supervised by specialized faculty members and facilities are supported by a well-trained system administrator.
The Department is the member of Microsoft Digital Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA). This alliance allows regular updates of the several Microsoft software packages. It allows the faculty members and the students to load selected software onto their own computers. Faculty offices are equipped with state-of-the-art Dell Desktops and Laser Printers.
The Department currently offers scholarships and research assistantships (through CMAST, Cyber Innovation Center, and AFRL) to qualified students who are majoring in Cybersecurity. Most of these scholarships are offered through academic enrichment programs and are limited by availability of funds provided by federal Funds (NSF). Many of the talented students receive the research assistantships from AFRL contract through Clarkson Aerospace Corporation after completion of Data Structures and Calculus I with GPA 3.0 and above. Talented sophomores are considered for this program case by case. Students will be sponsored to AFRL labs, IBM, CenturyLink, CSRA (General Dynamics), and other federal agencies for summer Internships. Talented freshman/sophomore students will be selected for internship at GSU to work on summer research.