IUP’s computer science programs share a curricular core covering fundamental concepts, programming, problem solving, data structures, algorithms, software engineering, database, and seminars on technical topics and the profession. The department focuses on providing a broad foundation to create agile graduates who can adapt to the rapidly changing trends in the computer science and cybersecurity fields. Every student in the B.S. in Cyber Security track also completes a minor in criminology. Based on this program, IUP was awarded recognition as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Students get hands-on training and opportunities to delve into penetration testing and ethical hacking while completing theoretical and applied upper-level coursework in computer networking, cryptography, and information security. Courses from the Department of Criminology in loss prevention, cybersecurity, and legal aspects enable graduates to coordinate with law enforcement on cyber-crime investigations.
Cybersecurity graduates work in computing and information-related areas of law enforcement, business, industry, and government agencies. Recent graduates have found careers as cyber security analysts, information security analysts and forensic computer analysts, as well as being more traditional programmers for business applications and software developers.