The NSA designated the following universities as Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education for academic years 2002 through 2005. They join the list of twenty-three universities across the country to be awarded this distinction.

• Air Force Institute of Technology (OH)
  
• George Washington University (DC)
  
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania (PA)
  
• New Mexico Tech (NM)
  
• North Carolina State University (NC)
  
• Northeastern University (MA)
  
• Polytechnic University (NY)
  
• State University of New York, Buffalo (NY)
  
• State University of New York, Stony Brook (NY)
  
• Towson University (MD)
  
• University of Maryland, University College (MD)
  
• University of Nebraska, Omaha (NE)
  
• University of Texas, San Antonio (TX)

Since designation as a Center is good for three academic years, this year's program cycle was the first to include the revalidation process for the pioneering universities who were designated as Centers during 1999. All of the first Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education applied for revalidation and were re-designated for academic years 2002 through 2005.

• George Mason University (VA)
  
• Idaho State University (ID)
  
• Iowa State University (Iowa)
  
• James Madison University (VA)
  
• Purdue University (IN)
  
• University of California, Davis (CA)
  
• University of Idaho (ID)

The program is intended to reduce vulnerabilities in the national information infrastructure by promoting higher education in information assurance and producing a growing number of professionals with information assurance expertise in various disciplines. Additional information about the program may be found at http://www.nsa.gov/ia/academia/caeiae.cfm. Formal presentations will be made to the universities by the Information Assurance Director, National Security Agency on 4 June 2002, during the annual conference of the National Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education. The conference will be hosted by Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. Additional information on the Colloquium and the annual conference may be found at http://www.ncisse.org.

Universities designated as Centers are eligible to apply for scholarships and grants through both the federal (http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/due/programs/sfs) and Department of Defense (http://www.C3i.osd.mil/iasp) Information Assurance Scholarship Programs.

Information assurance education plays a critical role in protecting the national information infrastructure. The Centers are key to having security solutions keep pace with evolving technology now and into the future. The Centers also provide great geographic dispersion of information assurance education across the country, building expertise where the national information infrastructures reside.