Program

Program Mission

The mission of the University of Minnesota Summer School for Information Assurance is to increase regional and national capability for high-quality education of information technology professionals in critical information infrastructure protection disciplines, by educating regional college instructors in information assurance, and assisting these instructors in developing curricula for information assurance awareness.

Program Objectives

UMSSIA will provide its participants — faculty members from regional minority-serving institutions, community and technical colleges, and four-year universities an educational experience with two components:

–Intensive, graduate-level study in information assurance topics:

• A comprehensive introduction to computer and network security
• Laboratory experiences with practical security technologies
• Exposure to current advances in information assurance research

–Assistance in developing information assurance curricula at a variety of levels:

• Integration of IA modules into existing courses
• Developing new IA-related course sequences
• Developing IA-related courses to complement existing sequences

Program Outcomes

College faculty who participate in UMSSIA will gain:

• A detailed understanding of the basic goals, mechanisms, and challenges in information assurance.
• Experience with practical information assurance technologies.
• Exposure to societal issues related to information assurance, such as privacy, copyright, and ethics.
• Awareness of current research issues in information assurance.
• An established network of regional instructors with interests in information assurance.
• A curriculum plan to raise awareness of information assurance issues among students at their institution.
• A support system at UMN for implementing an information assurance curriculum.