The University of Arkansas will use a $4.63 million award from the National Science Foundation to establish a program to recruit, educate and train cybersecurity professionals.

The UA announced Tuesday the five-year award will enable a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to establish the program, address a shortage of cybersecurity professional and train students for careers in government agencies. The program is expected to provide the knowledge and tools necessary to protect network and computer systems in three industries — cybersecurity, transportation security and critical infrastructure security.

“The federal agencies that support these industries — all critical to our nation’s security and economic health — understand that new cybersecurity challenges are met with an increasingly insufficient security workforce,” said Jia Di, professor of computer science and computer engineering and principal investigator for the program. “But people at these agencies also understand that our university, with its specific research strengths, is uniquely positioned to expand the pool of highly skilled professionals who can address these challenges.”       MORE