• Florida A&M Univesity announced a partnership with tech industry leader IBM to prepare cybersecurity students for entry into the workforce 
• The initiative provides the university with a variety of tools to acclimate to a professional cybersecurity environment including proprietary software and simulated cyber attacks 
• The partnership comes at no cost to the university and seeks to alleviate a national workforce shortage 

Florida A&M University (FAMU) announced a new partnership with technology giant IBM to provide students with cybersecurity development resources this week.

The partnership primarily aims to provide the cybersecurity sector with more jobs. A recent internal study conducted by IBM reflects that insufficiently staffed organizations average $550,000 more in breach costs than those that state they are sufficiently staffed.

With more than 500,000 vacant cybersecurity positions across the nation, companies like IBM have turned to colleges and universities to prepare outgoing students to enter the workforce ready to hit the ground running.

“Florida A&M University is honored to partner with IBM on this groundbreaking initiative to add our students and graduates to the ranks of leaders in the cybersecurity workforce.  Our students are a largely untapped community of scholars who will infuse new energy and ingenuity into this industry.  I am eager to see this initiative take shape and grow in the years to come,” said FAMU President Larry Robinson.

As part of the partnership, FAMU students will have access to a specially curated Security Learning portal that will offer proprietary courses designed to help the university enhance its cybersecurity education portfolio.

Further, FAMU will be given the resources to simulate a high-level cybersecurity attack to allow students to train in response strategy. IBM states that through these simulations, FAMU will have access to IBM software hosted through its cloud system.

The partnership will come at no cost to the university.

“Collaborations between academia and the private sector can help students prepare for success. That’s especially true for HBCUs because their mission is so vital,” said Justina Nixon-Saintil of IBM. “The Cybersecurity Leadership Centers we’re co-creating with Historically Black College and Universities epitomize our commitment to the Black community and STEM education; it also builds on our pledge to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over three years.”

FAMU’s Center for Cyber Security recently received distinction as a National Center of Academic Excellence by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The university states that the program is a response to a national need, referring to the subject field as one of the most pressing economic and security challenges the country currently faces.