The Information Assurance Certificate provides educational coursework in the areas of information assurance and data security. MSU is certified as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance (IA) by the National Security Agency; the IA program of instruction has been certified by the Committee on National Security Standards (CNSS) against the National Training Standard for Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals—NSTISSI No. 4011 and the National Training Standard for Information Systems Security Officers (ISSO)—NSTISSI No. 4014. The curriculum for the certificate conforms to the Federal training standards in this area. A faculty member from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering’s Center for Computer Security Research (CCSR) will be appointed annually to administer the program. The certificate is jointly administered through the CCSR, the Dean of Engineering, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.