BU Receives NSA Recognition
With help from BU profs, University earns a distinction from the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security
Boston University is one of the first higher education institutions to be named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research, thanks to the efforts of two faculty members: Tanya Zlateva and Steven Homer, codirectors of the University’s Center for Reliable Information Systems and Cyber Security (RISCS).
Zlateva, the Metropolitan College associate dean for academic programs and a MET associate professor of computer science, and Homer, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of computer science, are 2 of the 21 members of RISCS, which promotes education and research in fields related to computers and information security. “It’s a broad center in the sense that anything related to security, reliability, information storage, and computation is what we do,” says Homer.
BU received the five-year distinction from the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, BU was recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, a distinction that was renewed in 2007.
The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security “make every effort to increase the visibility of the University,” Zlateva says. “An announcement goes to members of Congress and other members of government, so we are helped in our efforts to start any type of collaboration with these agencies.”
Homer and Zlateva hope the distinction will bring more skilled researchers and funding to RISCS.
Rebecca McNamara can be reached at ramc@bu.edu.
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