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Center for Academic Excellence - Cyber Defense

BYU has been designated as a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) by the National Security Agency (NSA) since 2012. Graduates of the Cybersecurity, B.S. program receive a certificate indicating that they have graduated from a CAE-CD program upon completion of their degree. Many government agencies and companies look for students coming out of CAE-CD programs due to their excellence.

If you have any questions related to the CAE-CD program, please contact the Derek Hansen (dlhansen@byu.edu 801-422-7467) who serves as the Point of Contact for the CAE.

Advisory board

  • Ben Cotton, Vice President for Incident Response, eSentire
  • Charles Smutz, Cybersecurity Researcher, Sandia National Labs
  • Adam Marrè, CISO, Arctic Wolf
  • Todd Berrett, Senior Director, BYU Office of IT
  • Matthew Smith, Senior Technical and Strategic Advisor, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  • Hyrum Mills, Director of Cybersecurity, Northrop Grumman
  • Adam Baker, SOC Director, LDS Church Education System
  • Wayne Varga, Director of Security Services, SD7 Technology Group
  • Roger Timmerman, CEO, Utopia Fiber
  • Scott Robinson, Manager, National Partners, Splunk