BIG RAPIDS – Ferris State University’s College of Business Information Security and Intelligence Program Receives Increased Support from the National Security Agency and the US Department of Defense with a $ 150,000 Grant recently approved.
This latest award brings the total funding of government agencies to over $ 850,000.
“This will help us develop the content for our cybersecurity program, which will be shared with community colleges and high schools,” said Greg Gogolin, program coordinator and professor of cybersecurity and data science. “Through the collaboration with the Spanish department of the university, we hope to produce podcasts in this language to explain how cybercrime is a global problem, and the ISI program can be the opportunity for students to join professionals who learn to detect and defeat hackers in real time. . “
Gogolin said the plan is to offer the content to instructors working to create a program in space, as well as modules designed as training resources for law enforcement professionals.
“We want to strengthen investigative capacities so that threats against public officials that spread through social media can be limited and addressed,” Gogolin said. “The authorities are facing an incredible number of death threats, towards health professionals and the government, from the school commissioner to elected officials and magistrates. “
Another element of ISI education supported by the grant is the training of faculty in the department. Molly Cooper, associate professor, and other instructors in artificial intelligence are learning from their peers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas, according to Gogolin. He added that the goal is to build their capacity as instructors in this new Ferris Bachelor of Science program.
“Molly has kind of a stealthy career as a voiceover professional, which we’ll be using in our podcast, as well as her significant contributions as a member of our AI faculty,” Gogolin said. “We are very happy to have secured this assistance from the NSA / DoD in their annual grant cycle.”
The ISI program will further strengthen its information base for high school and college students participating in cyber competitions, currently offered in their center in the College of Business building and, ultimately, in the new facilities of the Center for Virtual. Learning.
“We hope to give cyber competitors a greater acclimatization to what to expect so that they can get the most out of their event,” said Gogolin. “We plan to make these podcasts and materials available to them over the next year.”
ISI is the only ABET accredited cybersecurity program in Michigan. In addition, the program has been designated a National Academic Center of Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and Academic Center of Excellence in Digital Forensics by the Department of Defense.
The Ferris ISI program is an Amazon Web Services Academy, Cellebrite Forensic Academy, an EC-Council accredited training center, an academic partner of Palo Alto Networks, a partner of the CompTIA Academy, and a Pearson Vue testing center.
High schools interested in participating in the university’s ISI cyber competitions can find more information on the department’s web page.
