McAfee Donation Bolsters RIT’s Graduate Computer Science Program
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While security intrusions have become an ever-growing concern at universities around the world, students at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York may someday be able to prevent various security breaches thanks to a donation from McAfee Inc.
The $1 million donation of next-generation intrusion and prevention technology coincides with the university’s launch of a new master’s program in computer security and information assurance at its B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS at www.rit.edu/~gccis).
Unlike other universities 
offering programs in computer security, RIT’s new master’s degree is executed across multiple disciplines, utilizing the computer science, information technology and software engineering departments. “This donation is right on the mark for our continuing effort to provide state-of-the-art practice and state-of-the-art technology for our students,” says GCCIS Dean Jorge Diaz-Herrera.
GCCIS is a part of a large 15,000-plus student population at RIT, which offers 340 career-oriented and professional programs. The college is one of the newest, largest and most comprehensive computing schools in the nation with more than 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students, as well as a Ph.D. program scheduled to roll out next fall.
McAfee’s donation will help faculty develop curricula in computer and network security offered at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, while giving students critical hands-on learning experience.
“We like for our students to be able to graduate and hit the ground running,” says Diaz-Herrera. “Donations like McAfee’s will help us significantly enhance the experiences of our students in the lab environment.”
McAfee’s solutions will be integrated into courses such as network security and forensics, wireless security, computer system forensics, and a computer system security course where undergraduates must attack and attempt to infiltrate other students’ computer systems.
- Alex Roman