About the Center for Cyber Excellence
The Center for Cyber Excellence at St. Mary’s University is a collaborative venture drawing on the expertise of faculty and staff from the School of Science, Engineering and Technology, as well as from other disciplines within the University and the University’s Information Services Division. The Center provides guidance and general cyber defense information, and promotes collaboration and interaction with other students, faculty and programs.
St. Mary’s University offers a Master of Science program in Cybersecurity, as well as a 12-hour graduate Certificate of Cybersecurity.
National Designation
St. Mary’s University, through the M.S. in Cybersecurity program, has been designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD).
Latest Updates
- BSides SATX 2023 will be hosted at St. Mary’s University on June 10, 2023.
- StMU Cyber Rattlers team won 1st place at the Alamo AFCEA Capture the Flag Competition on Nov. 16, 2022. The students who competed were Reetej R. Chindarkar, Amber Gonzales, Abdullah Alghamdi and Saleem Alotaibi.
- Ayad Barsoum attended the NSA CAE-CD and CO Peer Review Workshops, 2 full-days workshops, Nov. 3-4, 2022 at San Antonio College
- Ayad Barsoum is now serving as a Reviewer for NSA CAE-CD (Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense)
- Glenn Howard is now serving with us as an adjunct faculty member
Affiliated Faculty and Staff
Faculty
Adjunct Faculty
- Brian Stuhl
- Charles J. Zinsmeyer
- Jon Ford
- Glenn Howard
Information Services
- Dean Halter, Information Security Officer, Association of Marianist Universities
- Frank Niewierski, Executive Director, Client and Systems Support, St. Mary’s University
- Joseph Longo, Executive Director, Infrastructure and Enterprise Systems, Information Security Committee Chair, St. Mary’s University
Cyber Defense Activities and Organizations
- AFCEA Capture the Flag: The competition is a 4-hour, Jeopardy-Style competition for aspiring cyber and cybersecurity professionals. This competition is a learning tool that will measure the participant’s current familiarity with various cybersecurity topics and will further sharpen the tools they have learned through education or self-learning. Our students participated in Alamo AFCEA Capture the Flag competition in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2020, we participated with two teams and earned first place.
- Cyber Patriot: Information Security Association student chapter. The association is open to all students with an interest in information systems. The mission of Information Security Association is to promote management practices that will ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information resources. Our goal is to facilitate interaction and education to create a more successful environment for global information systems security and for the professionals involved.
Institutional Security Resources and Awareness
- Cyber Aware @ StMU Charter (Rough Draft) – Request from Information Services
- Departmental Training Sessions: Face to Face
- Table Top Exercise (TTX) – Request from Information Services
Faculty Publications
Barsoum
Additional Resources
External Board of Advisors
Joe H. Sánchez, Jr.
Founder & Executive Director, CyberTexas FoundationDave Salisbury, Ph.D.
Center Director, University of DaytonSteve Ryan
CEO, Trinity CyberJohn Trabucco
IPSecure
Points of Contact
Ayad Barsoum
Director, Center for Cyber Excellence
abarsoum@stmarytx.edu
210-436-3315Joseph Longo
Co-Director, Center for Cyber Excellence
jlongo2@stmarytx.edu
210-436-3888