Virginia Tech, in cooperation with L-3 Communications [LLL], Northrop Grumman [NOC], General Dynamics [GD] Advanced Information Systems, and Verisign Labs, yesterday said it received a five-year continuing grant to establish a National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) site for cyber security.
The center will initially research topics to include secure computing architectures, cloud computing security, visualization tools for cyber defense, securing critical infrastructure, wireless security, and malware detection and mitigation.
This new cybersecurity site joins the Security and Software Engineering Research Center (S2ERC) led by Ball State University and includes a primary site at Iowa State University and now Virginia Tech.
The NSF established S2ERC 25 years ago as the only I/UCRC dedicated to software engineering and recently rechartered the center with an added focus on security.
The NSF now sponsors 50 I/UCRCs to help connect industry with academic research at a precompetitive stage, the university said in a statement. The collaborations develop industrially relevant fundamental research and results are transferred directly, helping to speed technology transfer to commercial products and services.
The Virginia Tech cyber security site is led by Charles Clancy, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech and director of The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology. “Since the high-profile cyber attacks in 2007 associated with national-state armed conflict, the fields of cyber security and cyber warfare have grown exponentially…A number of high-profile incidents have caused both the U.S. federal government and private industry to reprioritize computer and network security,” he said. “This has resulted in a major need for research and education in the field.”
Wayne Zage, professor of computer science at Ball State and director of S2ERC, said: “By joining S2ERC, Virginia Tech will be able to work with industry on cyber security challenges, and build a pipeline of well-qualified graduates to address the significant human capital needs of the cyber security sector.”
Under the I/UCRC structure, the industry partners help direct the focus of the research and develop a portfolio of commercially feasible technology and students who are well prepared for jobs in the cyber security industry.