Towson University?s Center for Applied Information Technology (CAIT) has received from Cisco Systems a donation of Networks and Network Security equipment, valued at $294,015. As a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Security and Assurance Education, certified by NSA in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, Towson University is one of a limited number of centers eligible to apply for the Cisco program.
?This is the third such donation Towson has received from Cisco,? said Dr. James P. Clements, Vice President of TU?s Economic and Community Outreach, of which CAIT is a unit. ?A portion of the $294,015 donation will be used to set up Information Assurance (IA) labs at the member institutions of the Maryland Alliance in Information Security and Assurance (MAISA), ? Clements added.
Current MAISA institutional members are: Towson University (founding and lead member), Bowie State University, Morgan State University, University of Baltimore, Anne Arundel Community College, Baltimore County Community Colleges, Cecil Community College, and Harford Community College.
CAIT will serve as a conduit for this donated equipment, insuring the development of state-of-the-art IA labs at the member institutions. This equipment will allow for further development by these institutions in new IA curricula, supporting both MAISA?s mission and Cisco?s goals: advancing Maryland?s expertise in protecting information and the underlying systems and infrastructure it relies upon. Cisco?s donation is coordinated through its Critical Infrastructure Assurance Group (CIAG), which seeks to fund designated Center of Excellence institutions not only in donations of this type, but in other educational efforts such as guest lecturer series, Cisco train-the-trainer ?Boot Camp? programs, and collaborative efforts among its partnering institutions.
