The National Security Agency (NSA) has named NC State a Center of Academic Excellence in information assurance education, a designation that adds NC State to a select group of universities across the nation.

Information assurance education plays a key role in protecting the national information infrastructure. As a Center of Academic Excellence in this field, NC State will help security solutions keep pace with evolving technology, and help reduce vulnerabilities in the nation's information systems.

According to Dr. Ana Anton, assistant professor of software engineering at NC State, the designation recognizes the university’s increasing research into information assurance issues.

"NC State has a strong record of security and privacy research across three colleges -- Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Engineering, and Management, whose E-Commerce Learning Center supported our application," said Anton. "The National Security Agency's designation recognizes this research, as well as our education programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels."

Other universities awarded the distinction include Purdue University, Georgia Institute of Technology, George Washington University, the University of Maryland and the University of Nebraska, among others.

Designation is effective for three academic years, after which institutions are eligible for revalidation.

In a letter to North Carolina Gov. Michael Easley announcing the award, Michael J. Jacobs, director of information assurance at the NSA, said "The President's National Plan for Information Systems Protection (January 2000) addresses the critical shortage of professionals with these skills and highlights the importance of higher education as a solution to defending America's cyberspace."

The formal award will be made on June 4 at the National Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education in Redmond, Wash.