Tennessee State University News November 7, 2011 University Awarded $1.3 Million for Cyber Security Research and Education Nashville (TSU News Service) - Tennessee State University was recently awarded four grants totaling $1.3 million from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research and education activities in the area of cyber security and incidence management. The primary objective of this funding opportunity is to develop programs that prepare undergraduate and graduate students at Tennessee State University who are majoring in STEM for homeland security-related careers. Dr. Sachin Shetty, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will spearhead the activities related to these grants. The DHS grants are offered through the Scientific Leadership Awards for Minority Serving Institutions grant program. Two of the DHS grants, totaling $800,000, will be used for supporting undergraduate and graduate research and training activities in the areas of cloud security and incidence management. The NSF grants, provided by the Research Initiation and Targeted Infusion tracks from the NSF HBCU-UP programs totaling $500,000, will be used for vertical integration of cyber security material throughout the undergraduate computer science and electrical and computer engineering curriculum and cloud security research opportunities for two undergraduate students and Dr. Shetty to travel to the Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, NY. "This award will enable TSU to provide students with the requisite skills and expertise needed to enter the homeland security workforce," said Shetty. "As we prepare to open the new TIGER Research lab, the timing couldn't be better in terms of ensuring that both the capital and operational resources are in place to not only offer our students scholarships, but quality training for cyber security, incidence management and other STEM-related high-skill, high-wage careers." For five years, students, who are eligible to participate in the research, will receive hands on training in the area of cloud security as well as emergency response. The lab, scheduled for completion in spring 2012, will consist of TSU's research cloud cluster that will be developed and maintained by the students, providing opportunities to perform research activities in the areas of cloud computing and security. They will also work to develop a system for the TSU Police Department to effectively manage responses to emergencies. Shetty's goal is to prepare students, using security at the University as platform, for beyond college. Through systems modeled after those used by the campus, he hopes to proactively address known and unknown threats to critical infrastructure, public safety and e-commerce. Over the next five years, Shetty, who is looking for 20-25 students, says students must complete an application and have a 3.3 grade point average. Interested students are requested to fill out the application form. "It's no secret that universities across the country are being awarded grants to study cyber security," said Shetty. We are just excited that now HBCUs are being given the same opportunity to prepare our students to be competitive in the workforce." The faculty team for these grants include; Dr. Deo Chimba (assistant professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering), Dr. Tamara Rogers (associate professor, Computer Science), Leigh S. Arino de la Rubia (research project director) and Dr. S.K. Hargrove (dean, College of Engineering). For more information on the grant or scholarship opportunities, contact Dr. Sachin Shetty at 615-963-2160, sshetty@tnstate.edu, or visit the lab website http://cyberviz.tnstate.edu SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.