2012 National Centers of Academic Excellence Designees Announced

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have jointly announced the designation of 52 colleges and universities as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, Information Assurance Research, and in Information Assurance 2-Year Education for the years 2012 through 2017.

The centers - now totaling 166 in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico - are recognized leaders in these fields. Program graduates often develop into cyber experts who help to protect national-security information systems, commercial networks, and critical information infrastructure in both the private and public sectors - meeting the increasingly urgent needs of the U.S. government, industry, and academia.

Specifically:

• Seven institutions were designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) for the years 2012 through 2017.
• Seven joined the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research (CAE/R) Program.
• Eleven new institutions were identified as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance 2-Year Education (CAE/2Y).
• Twenty-seven existing centers in Information Assurance Education successfully re-applied, maintaining their designation.

The complete list of centers and details about the selection process are available here. The 2012 designees are listed in the Fact Sheet below.

All of the designations are valid for five academic years, after which the college or university must successfully re-apply. The NSA-DHS partnership was initially formed in 2004 in response to the 2003 National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

Centers with the "Information Assurance Education" or "Research" designation are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the National Science Foundation's Scholarship for Service Program.

More information about the National Security Agency is available online at NSA.gov.

Fact Sheet

2012-2017 Designations

NSA and DHS announced the new National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) for the years 2012 through 2017:

Additionally, these seven academic institutions were newly designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research (CAE/R) for the years 2012-2017:

The following 11 community colleges, technical schools, or state or federally endorsed IA/Cyber training centers were designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance 2-year Education (CAE/2Y):

The 27 institutions listed below have continued their commitment to providing quality IA education to students; they re-applied and were successfully evaluated against strengthened criteria, retaining the designation of National Center of Academic Excellence in IA Education. (The list includes the year that they were first designated as a CAE/IAE.)