LSU Receives Official Designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence from the National Security Agency

Today, LSU received its official designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence at the National Security Agency’s annual cybersecurity education colloquium near Chicago, Illinois. Among the 33 schools newly designated or redesignated this year, LSU is the only university to become a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, or CAE-CO, the most selective and highly technical of the NSA designations. 

First announced one year ago, LSU’s NSA designation has since enabled and supported: 

 

• record enrollment in computer science and cybersecurity at LSU
• the nation’s first NSA-funded cybersecurity clinic to protect small businesses, working in collaboration with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center at LSU for small businesses statewide
• the development of a student-staffed Security Operations Center, or SOC, in partnership with TekStream and Splunk, to protect LSU networks and other Louisiana higher education institutions from cyberattacks
• a partnership with the U.S. Secret Service for research and talent development
• a partnership with Louisiana’s largest ports to explore talent and technology development to secure critical infrastructure and supply chains
• strategic hires in computer science, software engineering and cybersecurity to grow LSU’s program

LSU Director of Economic Development Greg Trahan, special advisor to LSU President William F. Tate IV on cyber initiatives, was onsite to receive the award together with Professor Golden Richard, LSU faculty lead for cybersecurity and interim director of the LSU Cyber Center with joint appointments in the LSU College of Engineering and LSU Center for Computation & Technology, and Andrew Case, LSU industry liaison for cyber and adjunct computer science faculty.