Arkansas Universities Receive Funding for Cybersecurity Research and Training

Two Arkansas universities have received a combined total of $7 million in funding for cybersecurity research and training purposes.

According to a recent article published by the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the university received a five-year, $4.63 million award from the National Science Foundation. “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. The program will address a national shortage of highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals by enabling researchers to recruit, educate, and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Additionally, KARK reported the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Dr. Nitin Agarwal, director of the Collaboratorium for Social Behavioral Studies, has received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The funding will be used to develop ways to track emerging cyber-social threats and strengthen social cybersecurity research infrastructure. “The aim of this project is to examine, evaluate, measure, and predict the threat level of the adversarial information campaigns,” Agarwal said.

 “[Arkansas] will lead the Nation and provide a unique environment where business can invest in growth rather than repair of their networks and nodes. We are well on our way,” said Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Director of Military Affairs, Robert “Gator” Ator.