San Diego State University has launched a cybersecurity center to bolster the university’s research and education efforts.
The Cybersecurity Center for Research and Education (CCRE) will be managed by its founding director, Professor Rob Beverly. Beverly joined the university’s computer science faculty this fall after serving as a program director in the National Science Foundation’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure.
The center aims to “foster innovative research that addresses real-world cybersecurity problems,” according to SDSU NewsCenter, while expanding SDSU’s curriculum on digital forensics, reverse engineering, wireless security and embedded systems security.
Safeguarding the security and efficiency of cyber systems has become critical, requiring a multidisciplinary workforce of coding, engineering, ethics and management experts.
Beverly called cybersecurity “a very fast moving field.”
“One of the things that we really want to do to prepare students for the workforce is not only give them the cutting-edge skills that they need for today, but to also understand what it means to do research so that they’re prepared as the field evolves and changes,” he said.
And as it grows, it’s having a major impact. In San Diego alone, the cybersecurity industry includes 26,000 jobs and generates an annual $4 billion for the economy.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for information security analysts is projected to grow 33% by 2033, far faster than the average for all occupations. The median annual salary for the post in 2023 was $120,360.
There’s corporate funding to bolster training as well.
In June, SDSU, along with Cal State University San Marcos and other partners, was selected to receive $1 million in grant funding and support from Google’s Cybersecurity Clinics Fund to establish the San Diego Cyber Clinic.
The funding, from Google.org, the tech giant’s philanthropic arm, is part of a $25 million collaboration with the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics.
During the center’s first year, Beverly said he and his colleagues plan to bolster the center’s programs and achieve certification as a National Security Agency-designated Center of Academic Excellence, which would pave the way for more career and research funding pathways.
