Partnering with CWRU and Mercyhurst

Three academic institutions – Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University and Mercyhurst University– each maintain nationally recognized programs in the science of cybersecurity. Today, they announced plans to share their individual expertise and collectively form the North Coast Cyber Research and Training Alliance to propel advances in the expanding field.

“We are pleased to contribute our strengths in legal technology and policy to the new alliance,” says Lee Fisher, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law. “The collaboration will prepare students for a cyber workforce in which complex problems will need to be solved at the intersection of disciplines and sectors.”

The agreement to jointly develop cybersecurity education, research and training programs in Western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio will leverage the unique combination of strengths of the three schools:

• Cyber regulatory and policy analysis at CSU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection
• Cyber engineering and hardware solutions at CWRU’s Case School of Engineering
• Cyber intelligence threat analysis and analytics at Mercyhurst’s Ridge College of Intelligence Studies & Applied Sciences

“The alliance opens the door to a variety of intriguing projects and new funding opportunities that will enable students to confront authentic problems across the full range of cyber disciplines,” notes Caleb Pifer, vice president for external relations and advancement at Mercyhurst. 

"The multidisciplinary collaboration between Mercyhurst, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University provides the complementary expertise required to address complex cybersecurity concerns across a variety of application areas," adds Ken Loparo, the Nord Professor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve.

Launched in 2015, CSU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection integrates technical, legal, and business perspectives to address privacy and cyber-risk management concerns. The Center conducts research in numerous aspects of cyber law and policy, houses multiple professional training programs, and offers concentrations in Cybersecurity and Privacy for Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Legal Studies (MLS) and soon a Master of Science degree in Cybersecurity.

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