Jan. 23 — To meet the growing need for highly skilled cybersecurity, forensics and global security and intelligence experts, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Ariz., campus is launching the nation’s first College of Security and Intelligence (CSI).

Students will get hands-on, real-world experience with courses in computer and forensic sciences, offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations intelligence and counterintelligence analysis and operations, foreign policy and international law, counterterrorism, environmental threats and global, regional, and homeland security. Upon graduating, they will have the skills to join more than 350 Embry-Riddle alumni with jobs in the federal government, military, security and intelligence agencies, and the corporate world.

Building on the international success of its unique Global Security and Intelligence Studies (GSIS) program, the CSI will also house the Cyber Intelligence and Security degree program created last year. Two new degree programs scheduled to debut this fall – a bachelor’s in Forensic Biology and a master’s in Security and Intelligence Studies – will round out the new college.

On Jan. 29, university President Dr. John P. Johnson will join other dignitaries presenting the new college and the installation of Dr. Phillip Jones as Dean of the College of Security and Intelligence. Dr. Jones, a former CIA intelligence analyst and an international security and intelligence expert, currently is the Department Chair of the Global Studies Department. The formal induction will take place at 12:45 p.m. (MST), Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Davis Learning Center on the Prescott Campus. The event is open to the public and media, and will be preceded by other on-campus special events including a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Athletics Facility.

“The College of Security and Intelligence is an ideal institutional framework to ensure that these capabilities are developed and employed with the high standards that our associates in the national security and corporate worlds have come to expect from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,” said Dr. Jones.

Students in the new college will use state-of-the-art facilities for real-world training such as the Computer Security and Forensic Lab (aka the “Hacker Lab”) where they will have hands-on experience with offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations as well as intelligence and law enforcement applications. There also is the Forensic Science Lab (FSL) where students apply forensic science techniques to on-site security and intelligence investigations, and the GSIS Eagle Operations Center where students practice open-source collection and analysis, foreign language proficiency, table-top exercises, crisis simulations and other program scenarios.

“This newest college at Embry-Riddle in Prescott, Ariz., will continue to expand its role as the No. 1 collegiate educator of intelligence professionals to the government and industry, as well as providing an opportunity for expanded partnerships and research in cybersecurity, forensics, and security and intelligence,” said Embry-Riddle Prescott Campus Chancellor Dr. Frank Ayers. “With the addition of the new bachelor’s in Forensic Biology and the master’s in Security and Intelligence Studies as part of this new college, these are exciting times in Prescott. We are so proud of Dean Jones, and the faculty and staff of the college as they continue this 15-year journey of excellence.”

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 40 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@EmbryRiddle) and www.facebook.com/EmbryRiddleUniversity, and find expert videos at YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.

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Source: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University