CSC News

Department Announces Undergraduate Track in Security

The Department of Computer Science at NC State University is pleased to announce the approval and launch of an Undergraduate Track in Security in the Computer Science Undergraduate Program curriculum.  The curriculum is effective Fall 2019.

“As technology permeates all aspects of our lives, the real-world impact of the security and privacy of computing systems has never been more critical,” says Dr. Gregg Rothermel, Department Head for the NC State Department of Computer Science. “The launch of this new undergraduate track will allow us to better prepare our students to meet the ever-growing demand for highly skilled security-focused talent that we see in today’s workforce.”

The launch of the new track was led by Dr. Sarah Heckman, Director of Undergraduate Programs. “The Undergraduate Track in Security teaches students the skills necessary to build, analyze, and reason about secure and private systems beyond the security topics in the core curriculum,” says Heckman.

Topics will include both an overview of computer and network security and a variety of more in-depth topics, including software security, privacy, and cryptography.

Security is of primary concern to many of the department’s ePartner companies. Dan Corgan, SVP and Cyber Threat Intelligence Officer for BB&T, is thrilled about the new track. Corgan, a member of the department’s Strategic Advisory Board, says “At BB&T and throughout the FinTech space, we are faced with solving new security challenges on a daily basis. The landscape for security-centric computer science talent is extremely competitive, and we certainly applaud NC State for their efforts to create more talent in this space, especially at the undergraduate level.”

This is one of two new undergraduate tracks available to NC State Computer Science students starting in the fall of 2019, the other being a track focused on entrepreneurship.

In 2017, the department launched a Masters Track in Security.   

For more information on the Undergraduate Track in Security and its course requirements, please click here.

~tate~