Pitt was designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research

The University of Pittsburgh has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R) through 2030 by the National Security Agency (NSA). “A highly skilled cybersecurity workforce is a strategic national security advantage,” the agency wrote in its letter announcing the honor.

The U.S. faces a critical shortage of professionals with cybersecurity knowledge and skills; this program, the agency states, is “highlighting the importance of higher education as a solution to defending America’s cyberspace.”

CAE-R institutions must be associated with the Department of Defense or grant PhDs, and each demonstrates educational opportunities that further the understanding of cyber defense technology, policy and practices that will help the country respond to a catastrophic event.

Pitt is leading the way in developing a cybersecurity workforce pipeline — and has been for two decades. Since 2004, the University has also held a CAE in Cyber Defense thanks to the leadership of Ahmed Ibrahim and James Joshi, both faculty in the School of Computing and Information. As part of that work, Pitt has held summer CyberCamp programs for interested high schoolers to invite them into the field before college since 2016. The Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security, launched in 2017, is a multidisciplinary group of researchers studying critical questions of networks, data and algorithms with a focus on understanding the future as it arrives. Pitt-Greensburg, too, has earned accolades from the NSA for its cybersecurity program.