Cybersecurity in Augusta

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TOLER: THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE: Each partner has their own metrics, whether it’s the number of students, the number of researchers, published papers, visitors, having people placed in internships. I think if you look at the big-picture goals, one is about this entity trying to be financially self-sustaining as an ecosystem. Where else in the world do you have a state entity that essentially pays for itself based on contributions from our partners? And now I think, visually, success is adding three more buildings on this campus. We’re going to build another building. We’ve been successful in filling up two buildings and Dr. Schwarzmann needs a research center to grow his vision. Is there room for three more buildings here? TOLER: SHAFFER: Yes. There is about seven acres left (on the campus). THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE: O’BRIEN: SCHWARZMANN: SHAFFER: SCHWARZMANN: O’BRIEN: SCHWARZMANN: TOLER: Obviously, another building would be a milestone, but what are some of the things the community might not be aware of that you’ve experienced so far? We base our success on how many students we graduate and get employment. We have our cybersecurity and networking degrees here and we usually enroll around 350 students on most semesters. We run about 40-something courses down here, so that’s very successful. (Students are) wanting to be in this environment. They’re exposed to so many different avenues related to cyber. And these students range from high school students to high-level security employees at Fort Gordon. So we have a plethora of students with an incredible amount of talent and I think that is what industry is looking for. They need employees at so many different levels. Students are sort of identifying their academic career with the Georgia Cyber Center. The year before the first building opened, our enrollment was about 350 students. This fall we have almost 650 students. I want to point out all universities are very concerned about enrollment. Well, AU just reached its highest enrollment in history, and 25% of the increase is due to the increase in our Computer and Cyber Sciences students. That’s something that is very visible to us, but maybe not to the community at large. What’s the next stop? Well, I went to see 1,000 students. And also we are just starting to grow our research graduate programs. Within a couple of years, I would like to have 100 doctoral students doing research here. I’d like to give a perspective from the corporate side. I thought (military contractors) would come, but not this quickly. You look at the corporations – Perspecta, Parsons, BAE – and unfortunately the public doesn’t see the big marquee signs outside, and that’s purposeful, even though they’re here. Once we get back to normal (after the COVID-19 pandemic) and the companies are fully built out, you’ll start seeing more people. It’s very important that we are developing relations with the organizations at Fort Gordon and the state of Georgia. We are offering courses at Fort Gordon with our faculty there. We are, in terms of workforce development, focusing on cybersecurity areas in our undergraduate degrees. In fact, the university is designated by NSA and (the Department of Homeland Security) as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education. And Augusta Tech is also one of the few two-year colleges that have this very, very important designation. The first one in Georgia. So being a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense makes us eligible to compete for (Department of Defense) scholarship grants for our students. And we were the first university in Georgia who won that very prestigious grant. We have been winning four years in a row. We just brought in another grant from DOD in the amount of over $500,000. Last year I think we won almost 20% of all grants, of all scholarships that DOD awarded. So somebody at the Department of Defense thinks our education is quite solid. As a former DOD guy, I can’t explain how significant that is. We were competing with the most prestigious universities across the country. (Editor’s Note: Toler is a retired Army officer who served with U.S. Cyber Command and the NSA). THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE: What do those folks say when they come here to visit? 6 Cybersecurity in Augusta - September 2020
SHAFFER: THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE: TOLER: THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE: SHAFFER: TOLER: SHAFFER: “How did you do this?” I think it’s jealousy – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. You have to give credit to the state of Georgia for this. We went to other states and looked at them and they want to come back here to look at us. Hopefully, we’re helping them go back and be able to say, “This is what we’d like to do.” And maybe they can find something we can improve on. Not every state has an innovation center that was put together like this, right? The idea itself, the need to collaborate as a government entity, is not novel. The fact that we actually did – that we brought the people together – is what is most impressive. We took the best ideas and actually put taxpayer dollars toward those goals. Our goal is to have people come here and go back and emulate what we’ve done in form or fashion. Not everyone is blessed with a Fort Gordon in their backyard or a Savannah River Site across the river, but they do have some government resources. I’m assuming you might have seen centers in other states that developed organically, in a piecemeal fashion over a long period of time. Here, the model looks a little different, feels a little different. I can tell you one lady we talked to during one of the first visits said, “Whatever you do, don’t let government or academia run it.” Well, I heard that on the next three stops. I’m not exaggerating. But we were able to create one building with all the pieces that everyone talks about, as opposed to something where people were fighting for space. Here, it was purposeful, and room was given to make sure everyone was in the building. I’d like to give a plug to the uniqueness of how we did this so quickly, and our relationship and partnership with the Georgia Technology Authority. The relationship has been incredible. It has allowed government and academia to run this place – because we are part of AU and we are state funded – but to run it in a way that is almost like the private sector. It is going to be a very effective model for us going forward. We survive off of lease payments. The good part about that is that it allows us to make sure the money coming in is put back into the building and make sure we always have technology that’s on the cutting edge. It’s one thing to get a building built, it’s another to keep it up and to stay current with the technology. We still get some operational dollars from the state, but if you took those alone, it’s not enough to run the budget for a year. We make no secret that our business partners make a larger share. Academia is probably about 28% (of the space) but pays only about 7% of the budget. You can take those numbers and say, “Wow, that’s weird.” But then again, industry is in a building where they get a lot of access. Part of that access that makes their eyes get really big is when they hear there’s about 500 students that cross these buildings at all different levels. That is what they’re all looking for – talent. You really don’t have to set up a recruitment table here because they’re going to come calling for you. Eric Toler is the executive director of the Georgia Cyber Center. Dr. Alexander Schwarzmann is the dean of Augusta University’s School of Computer and Cyber Sciences. Tammy O’Brien is Augusta Technical College’s dean of Cyber and Digital Education. Michael Shaffer is Augusta University’s executive vice president for strategic partnerships and economic development. Cybersecurity in Augusta - September 2020 7
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