Federal funding to support research, education in cybersecurity at Marshall, WVSU

HUNTINGTON — Marshall University and West Virginia State University will split $1 million in federal funding secured by West Virginia’s senators this year.

Last month, U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced they had secured $1 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) funding for the Marshall University Research Corporation to support research and education in cybersecurity, including the purchase of IT equipment and software.

Dave Dampier, dean of Marshall’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences and interim executive director of the Institute for Cyber Security, said half of the $1 million will go to West Virginia State University, which is expected to use the money in the same way as Marshall.

“We are building the capacity to conduct cyber security training for critical infrastructure operators,” Dampier said in an email. “A portion of the $500K at each institution will be used to outfit the critical infrastructure lab for workforce training. Faculty and staff will be paid to develop workforce training materials and then to teach critical infrastructure operators to detect, control, and mitigate cyber attacks on their systems.”

Travel assistance will be provided to students and faculty for the training, Dampier said, and a portion of the money will be used to purchase supplies for the training, like student handbooks and USB drives.

Dampier said it has not been decided yet what specific IT equipment and software Marshall will purchase with the funds, but it will be to support the build out of its laboratory with critical infrastructure simulators and equipment.

“It builds capacity in the laboratories and pays staff who will be able to support education and research across the cyber mission of the university,” he said.

Marshall has two undergraduate and two graduate degrees in cybersecurity and that one of the graduate programs that is entirely online “is on the verge of exploding,” Dampier said. He also said Marshall is building micro-credentials specifically for the training of operators in critical infrastructures and law enforcement and will soon be part of the Center of Academic Excellence for Cyber Command being built in West Virginia between Marshall and West Virginia University.

Dampier said Marshall is also about to be designated a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Security Education by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security, with a designation ceremony to occur in the fall in Chicago. A new Institute for Cyber Security is also expected to be one anchoring point for Marshall’s new 4th Avenue Innovation District in Huntington. Dampier said the new Institute for Cyber Security will house Marshall’s cyber security research, education and collaboration.

“The cyber security program at Marshall has grown significantly since October 2021 when the ICS was created, and looks to continue growing,” Dampier said in the email. “Funding from multiple sources is now coming together to show significant capability for consequential research in the years to come.”