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May 22, 2020

UNH combines academic programs to create tech hub

PHOTO | New Haven BIZ
By Michael C. Bingham

The University of New Haven announced Thursday plans to launch the Connecticut Institute of Technology — a/k/a Connecticut Tech — as part of a university-wide effort to bring together several now discrete academic disciplines to create a technology hub that fosters interdisciplinary exploration and innovation. 

“Our goal is to reinforce our standing as a destination university for technology education and research in the Northeast,” said UNH President Steven H. Kaplan in announcing the initiative. “Groundbreaking efforts like this are critical to preparing our students for careers of the future that haven’t yet been envisioned. We pride ourselves as a university on being forward-thinking and market-driven, and I am enormously optimistic, excited and proud that the University of New Haven will be leading this effort.” 

Connecticut Tech will bring together the West Haven-based school’s undergraduate and graduate programs in cybersecurity and networks, computer science, data science, and electrical and computer engineering, as well as several research groups. The mission is to foster a technology hub that fosters and supports an intense focus on applied learning and research.  

Last year, the National Security Agency named UNH a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, a designation earned by only 21 universities in the country. The university also received a $4 million Scholarship for Service grant from the National Science Foundation to help prepare cybersecurity professionals for federal, state, and tribal government agencies.  

“Through Connecticut Tech, we are planting a flag that signals we will be the tech and education hub for the state of Connecticut,” said Ibrahim (Abe) Baggili, who heads UNH’s cybersecurity and networks program, in a statement. “We are going to play a pivotal role in stimulating the state’s economy, and, beyond that, generating the highest quality students and research in the areas of cybersecurity, computing, and AI. 

“We will be catalyzing a new breed of education in Connecticut that fosters technology-enabled innovation and, as always, produces graduates in areas that are in high-demand,” Baggili added. 

The new program is intended to spur collaboration and interdisciplinary research across all colleges and schools at the university by incorporating cybersecurity, computing, data science, and AI into non-engineering programs.   

“Inclusion of these technologies across all curricula is essential today, when issues of cybersecurity and data breaches are impacting multiple industries and businesses,” said Baggili. “Whether it’s bank transactions, stock trades, manufacturing data, medical records, criminal records, forensic evidence, scientific data, or retail transactions, it all needs to be secure.”   

Ron Harichandran, dean of UNH’s Tagliatela College of Engineering and vice provost of research, said the reputation of the university’s program in cybersecurity, data, and electrical and computer engineering ensures that the Institute will make an immediate impact.   

“Launching the Connecticut Institute of Technology will unite the strengths within the Tagliatela College of Engineering and serve as a technology focal point at the university,” he said in a statement.

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