University of Tulsa chosen to lead $2.7 million initiative to help reverse the outsourcing tide

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Oklahoma Cyber Security Education Consortium (CSEC) has received $2.7 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop cyber security programs at two-year institutions in Oklahoma and seven neighboring states.

“America must reverse the tide of offshoring by spurring high-tech job creation,” Gov. Brad Henry said. He added that CSEC has thrived because of the educational partnerships among all three branches of Oklahoma’s higher education system: the CareerTech system, Oklahoma’s largest community colleges, and The University of Tulsa, a Carnegie research and doctoral university.

Sujeet Shenoi, the F.P Walter Chair in math and computer science at TU, will lead the initiative, entitled “Reversing the Outsourcing Tide in Mission-Critical Disciplines.” He will oversee the training of faculty at technical schools and community colleges and help create thriving cyber security programs in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and Colorado.

“My goal is to achieve low-cost domestic in-sourcing—creating a highly skilled workforce that brings outsourced jobs overseas back to the United States,” Shenoi said. “In addition to new jobs, these information security experts will protect enterprises from malicious hackers who could disrupt our economic system.”

America has already lost more than two million technical jobs to workers in China and India, Shenoi said, and that number could quadruple in 10 years. Although the United States is an economic superpower, its per capita production of technical workers is dropping. The education consortium aims to reverse that trend by training 2,500 students and 3,000 existing workers with advanced skills in cyber security.

Shenoi has extensive experience in developing top federal cyber security programs, and established TU as one of the NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Regional Centers of Academic Excellence. In 2004, Shenoi received an initial ATE grant, which positioned TU as the first training center in the country to emphasize digital forensics. The success of that grant led to an expansion of training into three additional states and the development of programs at new partner institutions.

Gov. Henry said the ATE centers of excellence will be vital to retaining and creating jobs in this region: “CSEC's centers of excellence will serve as hubs for economic development by creating a globally competitive workforce that will attract high-tech companies."

With the assistance of TU, community colleges and technical schools have created associate degrees and certificate programs in cyber security that are mapped to Cisco, Microsoft, CISSP and Security+ certifications. These two-year institutions also partner with government and private entities to provide students with internships and future careers.

Ken Dewey, director of the cyber security program at Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla., has experienced overwhelming growth in his program since its inception in 2005.

“We’ve trained ex-GM plant workers, former hairdressers, anyone who wants a new start,” Dewey said. “There is a very high demand for this occupation and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down anytime soon.”

Dewey and his wife Eileen, also from Rose State, received a year of on-campus training at TU, which culminated in masters of science degrees in computer science from TU. After beginning their cyber security program at Rose State, they were surprised to enroll 70 students the first year. The program now boasts 380 enrollments and is the only two-year institution in the country to have all six levels of government training for cyber security and information assurance.

Faculty in TU’s training program develop programs at their two-year institutions in information assurance, secure e-commerce, network security, enterprise security and forensics. In addition, the curriculum addresses technical, operational and managerial aspects, as well as legal and ethical issues raised by cyber security.

About The University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa is a private Top 100 university providing a comprehensive educational experience to more than 4,100 students. TU is a National Security Agency-designated faculty development center and one of only 30 centers offering the Cyber Corps program, a federal initiative to train an elite group of computer security experts to defend U.S. computer networks. TU Cyber Corps graduates serve at federal agencies like the NSA, CIA, FBI and NASA.

For more information, visit www.utulsa.edu/cybercorps.

Contact:
Amethyst Cavallaro
918-631-2656
cavallaro@utulsa.edu