Iowa State University’s College of Engineering is introducing a Bachelor of Science degree in cybersecurity engineering, which will begin in fall 2019. The Board of Regents approved the major at its Nov. 16 meeting. 

The cybersecurity engineering program will be part of the college’s department of electrical and computer engineering, and will be the 13th engineering undergraduate degree offered by Iowa State, said a news release

“We are very excited about creating a cybersecurity engineering degree, blending the core of computer engineering with cybersecurity,” said Doug Jacobson, professor and faculty leader of the new program. “This is built on the idea that cybersecurity can no longer be an afterthought — it must be an integrated component throughout the four-year curriculum.”

“This is an engineering approach to solving future cybersecurity problems; a workforce trained in the fundamentals of cybersecurity but also learning about other aspects of computers, networks and software systems,” said Ashfaq Khokhar, a professor and Palmer Department chair of electrical and computer engineering. “Our faculty are involved in cutting-edge research in different aspects of cybersecurity, whether it’s hardware security, data security or application security.”

The ISU College of Engineering has a total enrollment of 9,530 students in 2018-19 and is the eighth-largest undergraduate engineering program in the country, ISU reports.