One of the highlights of National Cyber Security Awareness Month observed in October is University of Texas-San Antonio’s $70-million plan to build a National Security Collaboration Center and a School of Data Science.
When construction is completed, the $57 million School of Data Science building will comprise 138,000 square feet of classrooms, laboratories and research space, the university said in a statement.
The initiative aims to combine University of Texas-San Antonio’s 70-plus faculty members in cybersecurity, cloud computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence under one roof, providing government, industry and community partners with access to UTSA’s nationally recognized programs and talent.
The economic future of San Antonio is tied to Big Data, information management, and technology, and cybersecurity noted UTSA President Taylor Eighmy.
“Establishing a School of Data Science and the National Security Collaboration Center in the heart of San Antonio’s urban core will attract more critical mass to our community – more businesses, more investors, and more talent,” added Eighmy. “I am extremely grateful to the Board of Regents for recognizing this tremendous potential for San Antonio and UTSA’s key role in bringing this transformation to our region.”
UTSA notes that by 2022, an additional 1.8 million information security and technology professionals in the United States will be needed to keep critical information and intellectual property safe.
The $33 million National Security Collaboration Center will comprise 80,000 sq. ft. of innovation space, laboratories and research facilities and serve as a hub for government, university and industry partners in the cybersecurity field.
“I believe the only way we can move at the speed of relevance is to collaborate and innovate more deeply between universities, government, and companies to explore creative solutions,”said Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. “The model UTSA is creating will help the community move forward faster together to create opportunity and protect national security. ”
According to UTSA, the college has established federal partnership agreements with the National Security Agency, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the U.S. Secret Service, 24th Air Forces Cyber and 25th Air Force.
To further strengthen the ecosystem, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories have all executed partnership agreements with UTSA to work within the National Security Collaboration Center.
The center will focus on forensics, visualization, analytics, network security, cyber training/workforce development, big data analytics and privacy, post-quantum cryptography, cyber-physical systems, embedded security, security of the cloud, attack and threat modeling and mitigation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, platform and software integrity, and hardware integrity.
Parsons, Raytheon, Booz Allen Hamilton, Nobilis, and Accenture have expressed their intentions to join the National Security Collaboration Center, the university said.
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