{"id":146688,"date":"2019-03-01T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=146688"},"modified":"2019-03-01T08:01:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-01T13:01:00","slug":"brothers-establish-uconns-first-cybersecurity-instructional-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2019\/03\/brothers-establish-uconns-first-cybersecurity-instructional-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers Establish UConn\u2019s First Cybersecurity Instructional Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the growing need for cybersecurity experts, two University of Connecticut alumni brothers donated $1 million to launch the university’s cybersecurity instructional lab and develop a curriculum to meet the demands.<\/p>\n

Samuel \u201950 and Stephen Altschuler \u201954, who earned bachelor\u2019s degrees in electrical engineering, will cut the ribbon on the Altschuler Cybersecurity Lab, located on the first floor of the Information Technology Engineering (ITE) Building, this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose to make this gift because of the support we received from UConn when we were engineering students in the early 1950s,\u201d said the brothers in a joint statement. \u201cOur training enabled us to advance our careers to the point where we are financially able to make a gift of this size. Connecticut has been a major focus for us our entire lives, and we are proud to be able to make a meaningful contribution to its flagship university.<\/p>\n

“We believe that cybersecurity is among the most critical issues of this age. In order to assure that society will be able to safely continue to use the ever-accelerating advancements of technology, the study of cybersecurity is crucial to the maintenance of peaceful cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Altschuler Cybersecurity Lab will be the cornerstone of UConn\u2019s effort to graduate engineers with expertise in cybersecurity, said School of Engineering<\/a> Dean Kazem Kazerounian, who joined Donald Swinton, director of development for the School of Engineering, in pursuing the lab’s establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in an age where the threat of cyberattacks has gotten more pervasive. As an institution, we need to be training the next generation of engineers to combat this threat, which is why this gift from the Altschuler brothers is so important for the School of Engineering and the University,\u201d said Kazerounian.<\/p>\n

When launched, the lab will teach hands-on cybersecurity to all Computer Science and Engineering Department<\/a> freshmen, as well as additional members of the department’s 800 undergraduate and 150 graduate student population.<\/p>\n

A special first-year curriculum will cover such areas as cyber-hygiene in software and hardware; the vulnerabilities in commercial-off-the-shelf devices and Internet-of-Things devices; and ensuring the security and integrity of electronic election and voting systems, smart power-meters and power grid devices. The curriculum will also cover website security, secure configuration of networks and networked systems, and security of network routing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe establishment of this cybersecurity laboratory is wonderful news for Connecticut,\u201d said Arthur H. House, the state\u2019s chief cybersecurity officer. \u201cIt will enhance UConn\u2019s academic strength and partnership in the ongoing effort to understand and counter evolving cyber threats to the state\u2019s government agencies, businesses, and organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Raymond, Connecticut’s chief information officer, agrees. \u201cOne of the fundamental principles of the state\u2019s cybersecurity strategy is cybersecurity literacy.\u00a0 The strategy calls for all sectors to reduce cybersecurity risks through education and awareness.\u00a0The laboratory at UConn will play a critical role in developing the next-generation cybersecurity skills required to keep our state\u2019s citizens and business safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from UConn, Samuel Altschuler earned an MBA from Northeastern University in 1958 and founded Altron, Inc., where he was the chairman and president, until his retirement. Stephen Altschuler went on to earn his master\u2019s in engineering from Yale University in 1955. He is the founder, president, and chairman of Altek Electronics. He also served on UConn\u2019s Board of Trustees from 1986-1993.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize that Dean Kazerounian and his staff have assembled a first-class faculty to be stewards of the cybersecurity specialty, and we are highly motivated to support it,\u201d said the Altschuler brothers, who have also funded scholarships to UConn\u2019s engineering students.<\/p>\n

As faculty in the new lab pursue this work, they will partner with faculty in other areas, such as the state\u2019s Voting Technology Research Center, which evaluates Connecticut\u2019s voting machines and audits results for cyberattacks; and industry partners, such as Synchrony Financial and Comcast companies, which support cybersecurity research and host annual cybersecurity conferences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Altschuler Cybersecurity Lab will be the cornerstone of UConn\u2019s effort to graduate engineers with expertise in cybersecurity, said Kazem Kazerounian, dean of engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":146698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1866,2076,2225,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[175],"class_list":["post-146688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-engr","category-research","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 10:16:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146688"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146702,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146688\/revisions\/146702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/146698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146688"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=146688"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=146688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}