The National Security Agency (NSA) has designated the University of Maryland as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research. The university received the formal award at the 13th Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education in Seattle in June.

The bid was coordinated by Gerry Sneeringer, director of information technology security in the University of Maryland Office of Information Technology. Four Clark School faculty members provided ideas and material for the proposal: Professor John Baras (ECE/ISR), Associate Professor Sennur Ulukus (ECE/ISR), ISR-affiliated Associate Professor Michel Cukier (ME), and ISR-affiliated Associate Professor Min Wu (ECE).

NSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly sponsor the National Centers of Academic Excellence Programs and began the Information Assurance Research program in 2007 to promote robust IA technology, policy, and practices that will enable the United States to effectively prevent and respond to catastrophic events. The program recognizes schools that foster an information assurance research focus in curriculum as well as labs. The vision for this program is to establish a process that will present opportunities for IA research centers to drill deeper into much needed solutions to securing the global information grid and provide NSA, DHS, and other federal agencies with insight into academic IA programs that can support advanced academic research and development capabilities.

Universities designated as Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and Centers of Academic Excellence in IA Research are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through both the Federal and Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Programs.