Towson University Awarded $584,000 NSF Grant for

Information Security Assurance

August 9, 2004, Towson, Md. -Towson University has been awarded a two-year, $584,000 grant by the National Science Foundation for the formation of the Maryland Alliance in Information Security Assurance. The project will be led by Dr. Ali Behforooz, Center for Applied Information Technology, as principal investigator and Dr. Shiva Azadegan, Department of Computer Information Sciences, as co-principal investigator.

The goal of the grant is to provide faculty from the newly created Alliance with the training, education and laboratory experience and equipment needed to teach and create courses on their own campuses that address information security issues.

The grant allows TU to disseminate its own experience and expertise in this area to colleges and universities throughout Maryland, via workshops and other training.

Dr. James P. Clements, Vice President of the Division of Economic and Community Outreach stated that, "The hope is that the Alliance will lead to an increase in the numbers of Information Security Assurance-qualified professionals, who form the backbone of the U.S. information security infrastructure and are in very high demand in government and industry."

"There are two major objectives for the Alliance," said Behforooz. "One is that every university member of the Alliance becomes able to be certified as a Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency/Department of Homeland Security by the end of 2006. The second objective is to make the Alliance a point of contact for all information assurance-related problems and issues with in the region."

TU leads the Alliance, which also includes Bowie State University, Morgan State University, University of Baltimore, Community College of Baltimore County, Anne Arundel Community College and Harford Community College.

Contact: Anne Moultrie


Phone: 301/445-2722
E-mail: amoultrie@usmd.edu