Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
More than 25 years ago, the National Security Agency (NSA) created the National Centers of Academic Excellence (NCAE) in Cybersecurity Education program to contribute to the growing demand for cybersecurity expertise in the national workforce. The program began slowly, but through the years, its focus has been steadfast — promote higher education and research in cybersecurity, produce professionals to expand the cybersecurity workforce, and reduce vulnerabilities in our nation’s infrastructure.
Recently, in recognition of its 25th anniversary, the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Community (NCAE-C), housed at Cal State San Bernardino, published the “Executive Edition,” a comprehensive resource profiling cybersecurity education programs. During the past quarter century, programs have grown to include more than 480 designated educational institutions in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Heading up the national initiative were the Executive Director of CSUSB’s Center for Cyber and AI and Professor of Information and Decision Sciences Tony Coulson, who leads the NCAE-C, and Amy Hysell, partnership manager for CSUSB’s Center for Cyber and AI.
The 422-page book serves as a vital resource for university presidents, legislators and policymakers to address the nation’s cybersecurity workforce gap, Coulson said.
“One of the questions we asked ourselves during the planning was, ‘How do we get the word out to these various audiences about the importance of these programs that are geared toward solving the nation’s cybersecurity talent deficit?’” he said.
While a previous edition was published online, the Executive Edition marks a milestone as the first printed and widely distributed version. Hysell spent between six months and one year conducting outreach and data compilation while collaborating with a CAE partner, Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois, for design, printing, publication and distribution of the book.
“It was a labor of love, that’s for sure,” she said, “We did all the editing in-house, and the product is a very dynamic book.”
The “Executive Edition” is a crucial communication tool for executive outreach and also serves as an excellent resource to help students discover cybersecurity programs.
“The U.S. faces a 500,000-person deficit in cybersecurity professionals,” Coulson said. “The NCAE-C’s mission is to bridge this gap through education and workforce development, and this book shows the NCAE-C’s national investment to close that gap.”
Coulson said additional recent and upcoming CAE projects include an interactive map that helps potential students identify cyber programs throughout the U.S.; the production of the “Initiative Guide” for students, a complementary resource to the “Executive Edition” that will highlight hands-on programs; community outreach and workforce training; and the 2025 CAE in Cybersecurity Community Symposium, an annual platform for collaboration, innovation and policy discussion that will be held April 8-10 in Charleston, S.C.
“We have a slogan for the university, which is ‘We Define the Future,’” Coulson said. “I can't think of a better way of describing what our Center for Cyber and AI is about. We are defining the future of what the cyber workforce is going to look like.”