Raytheon names SMU as strategic partner in cyber research

Raytheon Co. has named Southern Methodist University as a strategic partner in cyber research based on the company’s collaborative efforts with the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security in the Dallas university’s Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering.  

The partnership includes joint research projects in cyber security, Raytheon internships for SMU students, and strategic education initiatives benefiting both SMU and Raytheon.

“We are very proud to have earned this designation,” said Fred Chang, director of the Deason Institute and the Bobby B. Lyle Endowed Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security, commenting in a news release.

“The work we do together benefits SMU and Raytheon, government and industry, and ultimately anyone with a laptop or smart phone. It will also help train our students to become part of a desperately needed workforce of cyber defenders,” Chang said.

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Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, called the partnership an example of Raytheon’s commitment to growing the cyber workforce.

Raytheon also utilizes the Lyle School’s training for its own workforce.  Fifty nine Raytheon employees have graduated from the school’s Master of Security Engineering program since 2005 when the program began, according to SMU officials.

“The work Dr. Chang is directing through the Deason Institute taps the University’s strengths in technology, social science, policy and the law to attack perhaps the most challenging problem facing our society today: cybersecurity,” said Lyle School Dean Marc Christensen. “It’s one reason why this strategic partnership with Raytheon is so important to us.”