Florida Southern College has created a stand-alone Computer Science Department, which offers new concentrations, such as cybersecurity.

  • Florida Southern College now offering cybersecurity major
  • Dept. has seen growth in student enrollment

According to Department Chair David Mathias, more and more students are interested in learning how to fight back against hackers. That new interest has lead to the Computer Science Department seeing a corresponding growth in student enrollment.

“We’ve just about doubled in the last two years, and I’m hoping to pretty close to double again in the next two to three years," David Mathias, D.Sc. said. 

With the constant news of data breaches, Mathias knew he had to make a major change in the department’s curriculum, by adding a concentration in cybersecurity.

“As our lives become increasingly digital, we certainly have a need to protect information,” Mathias said.

The cybersecurity concentration includes three classes, and a time table of three semesters to complete.The concentration affords students the opportunity to specialize in the field.

Jordan Finney and Jessica Finocchiaro are some of the college’s first students taking the cybersecurity courses.

“I’m kind of sad it wasn’t offered earlier,” Jessica Finocchiaro said, explaining she hopes to do graduate research in cryptology.

“It’s definitely needed for computer science these days. Even if you’re just a programmer or working on a database, you’re going to need a security background," said Jordan Finney, who is looking for an internship in the cybersecurity field.

According to a recent report from Cisco, the need for cyber security professionals is astronomical. The 2015 report indicates there are one million cyber security job openings worldwide.

Associate Professor Sree Malladi, Florida Southern’s newly added cybersecurity expert, said these cybersecurity jobs are good jobs too.

“The majority of the computer science jobs now are in cybersecurity. So students have a very healthy demand when they graduate. The pay is good,” explained Sree Malladi, Ph.D.

Florida Southern also wants its graduates to get good paying jobs in the areas of artificial intelligence and web applications. Mathias said his department is looking into offering concentrations in those areas as well.

This is the first academic year Computer Science is a separate department at Florida Southern College. Before, Computer Science and Mathematics were one department.