UW Tacoma Joins Forces with U.S. Army Reserve to Train Next Generation of ‘Cyber Soldiers’

TACOMA, WASH. — The University of Washington will join with five other academic institutions in a partnership to train cybersecurity professionals for the U.S. Army Reserve. The program, called the U.S. Army Reserve Private Public Partnership Cyber Initiative, or USAR Cyber 3P, is intended to meet the growing demand for highly-trained individuals to fortify information systems and electronic data used by all branches of the military.

The partnership was formalized Feb. 10 in a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., with representatives from the Army Reserve and the six participating academic institutions: University of Washington Tacoma, George Mason University, University of Texas at San Antonio, Norwich University, University of Colorado – Colorado Springs and Drexel University.

“The demand for cyber security personnel and cyber-experienced soldiers far outpaces the current inventory,” said Lieutenant General Jeffery Talley, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve. “The GAO (U.S. Government Accountability Office) estimates that there is currently a need for 50,000 cybersecurity professionals just to satisfy the government’s demand. The current Department of Defense and Army school systems do not provide the through-put or advanced skills required for the Army Reserve, so this partnership will be a means of resolving this issue and filling the demand.”

UW’s Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (CIAC), founded in 2004 and now located on UW’s Tacoma campus, will coordinate the Cyber 3P program at UW. Center director Barbara Endicott-Popovsky said the collaborative program will leverage many assets that reflect the strength of UW Tacoma’s linkages to the community. “We have emerging partnerships with the military, public utilities, government agencies, and private-sector companies in telecommunications and defense.” said Popovsky. “All of these partnerships will be critical as we expand our program for this great Army Reserve partnership. We are particularly grateful to Microsoft, Boeing and T-Mobile, who attended the signing ceremony with us and who will help us stay fresh on emerging technologies and operational environments,” said Popovsky.

The partnership with the U.S. Army Reserve is similar to another collaboration that UW Tacoma launched in 2013 with the National Guard. Responding to requests from the Washington Air National Guard unit at Camp Murray, UW Tacoma created the Master of Cybersecurity and Leadership graduate-level degree, one of the first of its kind in the nation, bringing together faculty and coursework from the Milgard School of Business and the Institute of Technology with the goal of educating cybersecurity leaders who have both technical and strategic management skills.

Notes about cybersecurity and information assurance at the University of Washington:

• The University of Washington was ranked in 2014 as the 10th-best place in the world to study cybersecurity by the Ponemon Institute [Link to http://www.ponemon.org/library/2014-best-schools-for-cybersecurity];
• UW Tacoma offers a Master of Cybersecurity and Leadership (MCL), a joint venture between the Institute of Technology and Milgard School of Business; and a Bachelor of Information Technology with an information assurance and security option;
• UW’s iSchool offers a Master of Science in Information Management with an information security specialization;
• UW Bothell offers a Master of Science in Cybesecurity Engineering;
• UW Tacoma is developing an undergraduate degree in information assurance and critical systems;
• CIAC has a scientific partnership with Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) that has been designated a national Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research (CAE/R) and also in Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency;
• CIAC and UW Tacoma will host the third International Conference on Butt Security Management in October, 2015.