Iowa State is among the nation’s leaders in information assurance — the study of computer security and computer security ethics — thanks to the efforts of two ISU professors. Jim Davis and Doug Jacobson, associate professors of electrical and computer engineering, have been instrumental in developing the Information Assurance Center. The center was created to bring together faculty from seven different departments across campus, Jacobson said.”By creating the center, we bring faculty together to work on larger research projects … that are of both a technical nature and of political policy nature,” he said. Jacobson, director of the center, said it provides a rallying point for faculty to meet and discuss pertinent issues. Before the Information Assurance Center was created, Davis said, information-assurance research was isolated within separate departments.The center’s departments range from computer engineering to political science, Jacobson said. A new graduate program, the Masters of Science and Information Assurance program, also stems from the center, he said. “For students who want to become practitioners in information assurance, this is a great way for them to go,” said Davis, who co-directs the Information Systems Security Laboratory with Jacobson. “It includes the technological areas [of] networks and security but also some of the human issues or legal issues — privacy is one example.”The National Security Agency reviewed information assurance programs at a number of schools, and only 14 schools, including Iowa State, met its standards for a high-ranking information-assurance school, Davis said. “We have a situation where there is a growing demand for security professionals … and you have a small number of universities that are producing them,” he said. “That makes for a fantastic job market for our students.”Jacobson said the center has two goals. “The first goal is to produce top-quality students to help meet the national needs in security,” he said. “The other goal is to produce research results that also meet the national needs to help protect the infrastructure and to help protect the country.”Davis said the center’s work is a jumping-off point to examine national issues.”The bigger problems that citizens of the country are worried about are not only the technology, but the impact of the technology on their day-to-day lives,” he said. “Now, we’ve got the right framework for doing a complete study on those issues.”