UALR has received designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Education.

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security granted the designation, which is effective during academic years 2014 to 2021.

Dr. Kenji Yoshigoe, chair of the Department of Computer Science and director of the designated center, said only 65 schools have received this distinction thus far.

The federal designation is to recognize schools that promote research and produce experts that help reduce vulnerabilities in the nation’s information infrastructure.

The designation will also enable students to apply for scholarships and grants through the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program and the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program.

The news of the designation comes on the heels of a second-place win for members of the UALR Cyber Security Club as part of the first Cyber-Defense Competition at the University of Kansas on Oct. 26.

The team members included Vineet Agrawal, Team Captain Dylan Hailey, Tommy Haycraft, Andrew Lewis, Yanyan Li, and Connor Young.

“This is a great accomplishment for our club members especially since the club is less than two years old,” said Yoshigoe.

Student teams were asked to oversee a small corporate network, manage all critical services, and defend against external attacks. Scoring was primarily based on the availability of computing services and handling of security threats (or injects).

The goal of the one-day competition was to provide students with a platform to apply theoretical knowledge into practice, and to obtain hands-on cyber security experiences.

The competition was held during the sixth annual Central Area Networking and Security Workshop, which provides a forum for presenting research and education activities in areas related to computer security and networking.

The final rankings put the University of Kansas JayHackers in first place, followed by the UALR team. The Kansas State University WildHat Hakkers and a joint team representing the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats and the University of Arkansas Razorbacks took third and fourth place, respectively.

The Computer Club’s next project is a joint effort with the UALR Department of Computer Science, hosting a free cyber security competition for high school students from across the U.S. The competition has already attracted over 140 teams, according to Yoshigoe.