San Antonio, UTSA investing to become a major cyberhub
Last October, San Antonio’s mayor sent a letter to Jeff Bezos refusing to offer corporate welfare in return for Amazon’s HQ2.
While other cities promised the moon and the stars to the world’s largest retailer, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and dozens of other political and business leaders recognized it was a rip-off. And besides, the Alamo City has been quietly developing another technology base, one that will be far more profitable in the long run: cybersecurity.
The establishment of the National Security Collaboration Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio is the latest sign that a new tech hub is developing in Texas. The center brings together the National Security Agency, a slew of defense contractors and some of the best academics working on cybersecurity today.
The need for greater cyber defenses and more publicprivate partnerships is undeniable. Every day, another com-
pany or government agency reveals how hackers stole sensitive data. Cyberattacks threaten hospitals, power grids, pipelines and financial markets. Cybercrime cost the world $600 billion last year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
San Antonio is perfect for this kind of work. NSA’s Texas Cryptologic Center is located on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The city is also home to the Air Force’s cyber command and its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance command.
More than 1,000 uniformed and civilian cybersecurity personnel work at the Port of San Antonio’s 1,900-acre campus. And the port authority is recruiting more defense contractors and tech companies to move in.
Before the last decade, the missing link was a toptier research university. Texas generally lags in higher education compared to California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and other states. But recent investments are paying off for UT-San Antonio, now considered one of the best cybersecurity schools in the nation.
“UTSA has positioned itself to supply the workforce for national security,” said Bernard Arulanandam, vice president of research, economic development and knowledge enterprise. “Our programs are shaped to the needs of the corporate sector we have in San Antonio, but also the Department of Defense.”
UTSA’s journey began almost 20 years ago when former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison encouraged the university to develop expertise in cybersecurity. UTSA’s Department of Information Systems and Cybersecurity is located in the College of Business but trains 3,000 students across disciplines with the departments of computer science, electrical engineering and liberal arts.
The university’s recently announced School of Data Science will expand research into cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other applications of big data, Arulanandam said. The school will work with Sandia National Labs, Idaho National Labs and Pacific Northwest National Labs as well as industry to remain on the cutting edge.
“We have professors of practice from the private sector that are actually teachers in our programs, so our students in the cyber program are being taught by practitioners that work in companies and the federal government,” he said.
The cybersecurity community in San Antonio is low profile due to the classified nature of the work. But the fact these jobs require security clearances gives San Antonio another advantage.
“Our cadre of students is very U.S. based, we have a strong population of U.S. nationals in our program and they are eligible for security clearances,” Arulanandam said. The large military presence also helps, with precleared veterans leaving the service in San Antonio, training at UTSA and working in cybersecurity.
The school’s commitment to meeting the needs of local employers and adult students alike is leading UTSA to grow campuses across the city and expand continuing education programs, said Kimberly Andrews Espy, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
“No one else is doing this in Texas yet, and we are first out of the gate,” Espy said. “Being a young university, we can pivot a little bit more easily than perhaps others.”
The school found a partner in the city, which is providing land for the university to grow. In downtown, the campus will blend in with existing businesses and encourage adults to develop their skills on their own schedules.
“The information you need in the first decade of your career is different than what you will need in your second decade and different from what you will need in your third,” Espy added. “The relationship institutions have to have with their communities has to be more ongoing.”
Almost every city is searching for the next big thing that will add jobs, grow the economy, boost land values and bring prosperity. San Antonio may have a struck gold with cybersecurity and big data.