“It’s a great day to be a CyberHornet.”
Emporia State University officially opened the doors to its new Cybersecurity Research + Outreach Center on Friday.
CyROC, as it’s called, will prepare students for a variety of cybersecurity careers. Several courses leading to degrees in computer science, information systems and business data analytics are already underway, and Director Leticia Rust says more is coming soon.
Because of the changing nature of technology, Rust says there will be a constant effort to keep students as current as possible.
US Senator Jerry Moran was instrumental in setting aside $1.5 million in federal funds during the 2022 appropriation cycle. He says students are needed now to help address the dangers of both present and future.
Local lawmakers were involved at the state level, with 17th District Senator Jeff Longbine and 60th District Representative Mark Schreiber, both of Emporia, helping to finalize another $1.1 million in funding. Longbine says lawmakers were more than willing to help get the program funded.
With notable cyberattacks affecting Kansas operations over the past four months, including Kansas State recently and the Kansas court system back in October, Schreiber says programs like this — and graduates from programs like this — are sorely needed.
Cybersecurity was listed as an emphasis program in the early stages of Emporia State’s transformation process at the start of the 2022-23 fall term. While painful with the loss of professor positions, Dean of the School of Business Ed Bashaw says the process has borne a lot of fruit — in part with CyROC.
This comes as there are hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity-related job openings nationwide, according to cyberseek.org. Moran says over 3,500 cybersecurity jobs are already available in Kansas, and there is a push to either bring cybersecurity jobs to Kansas or develop homegrown companies.
CyROC is in the fifth floor of Cremer Hall.
Photos by Chuck Samples/KVOE News
