Iowa State launches cybersecurity certificate to boost skills, build state's workforce

AMES, Iowa – Iowa, so far in 2025, has had 3,506 job postings for cybersecurity positions.

And, according to data compiled by cyberseek.org, the state only has enough cybersecurity workers to meet 73% of employer demand.

Iowa State University is offering a new, online undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity to help strengthen the skills of workers and build the state’s workforce. The program’s first students will begin studies this fall. Program and application information are now available online.

“There is a need,” said Doug Jacobson, Iowa State’s Sunil and Sujata Gaitonde Professor in Cybersecurity, a University Professor in electrical and computer engineering, director of the university’s Center for Cybersecurity Innovation and Outreach and director of the undergraduate certificate program. “It can be hard to get people. This program provides a way to take the current workforce and move them up and potentially bring in those with two-year degrees.”         

The program is designed for current cybersecurity or information technology workers who have earned a two-year associate’s degree. The certificate requires 21 total credits (a two-credit course generally takes about eight weeks) and can be completed in one to two years.

The program will cover “theories, concepts, and techniques of modern information assurance and network defense,” according to a program description. That includes advanced cybersecurity knowledge, practical skills and competencies, effective communication, adversarial thinking (anticipating and mitigating computer threats “by understanding cybersecurity from an attacker’s perspective”), and a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity architecture.

We don’t want to replace what the community colleges are offering. We want to provide upskilling to the incumbent workforce.

Doug Jacobson

Primary instructors will be Iowa State professors of practice who also work in industry, including Jeff Franklin, who teaches at Iowa State and is a senior information security officer for Heartland Business Systems.

“Having an instructor with experience in industry is the whole idea behind the certificate program,” Jacobson said.

The program has been developed with guidance from Iowa State’s Cybersecurity Advisory Council and community colleges offering cybersecurity and information technology programs.

“We don’t want to replace what the community colleges are offering,” Jacobson said. “We want to provide upskilling to the incumbent workforce.”

The undergraduate certificate program, Jacobson said, allows Iowa State “to continue to fulfill our land-grant mission” by educating a new population of students and building the state’s workforce.

Contacts

Doug Jacobson, Center for Cybersecurity Innovation and Outreach, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 515-294-8307, dougj@iastate.edu

Mike Krapfl, News Service, 515-294-4917, mkrapfl@iastate.edu