Identity theft, natural disasters, and transnational terrorism - the headline threats of our time – require problem solvers with the broad skills and knowledge to meet these challenges. The B.S. in Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) can help put students on the front line in meeting threats to national security, responding to emergencies, and protecting vital knowledge. This major is offered with the Information and Cybersecurity option, which will help students to build an understanding of network security, cyber-threat defense, information warfare, and critical infrastructure protection across multiple venues.
Students who choose the SRA program are interested in a challenging and rewarding career in constantly changing, fast moving area relevant across many different domains of society. Their technical expertise combined with collaborative and interpersonal skills means they have the versatility employers want. Many jobs in the security sector have higher than average growth and salary rates, with flexibility and high levels of job satisfaction.
Skills for the Real World
The Bachelor of Science in Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) responds to the expanding need for a highly trained analytic workforce to address a wide range of security and risk domains including national/homeland security, emergency and disaster management, law and crime, as well as enterprise risk management. The SRA program positions our students to be future leaders to address the current and emerging security and risk challenges that face individuals, organizations and our nation.
The SRA program prepares students with core competence in four knowledge areas:
- understanding the fundamentals of security, risk, analytic methods and decision support for the purpose of recognizing, articulating, and addressing analytic needs
- understanding the roles of data and analytics in various security domains and organizational contexts
- applying data analytics, methods, and tools (structured analytics; data gathering and manipulation; visual analytics; analytic judgements and presentation) to derive and communicate insights and actionable knowledge
- the legal, ethical, and professional issues within which analytics of security and risk are conducted.
Concentrations or Academic Tracks
View the Suggested Academic Plan.
- Information and Cybersecurity (ICS)
Internship Opportunities
All SRA students are required to complete an internship in a field related to their major. Internships can be part-time or full-time and paid or unpaid. Internships enable students to apply what was learned in the classroom to a dynamic, real-world technical situation. To receive credit for the internship, students complete the 1-credit IST 495 course and must complete at least 300 hours of supervised employment.
Graduates from this degree program have completed internships at:
- Deloitte
- Lockheed Martin
- Pfizer
- US Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Naval Supply Systems Command
Research Opportunities
SRA students have the opportunity to conduct research with faculty members. Working one-on-one with a faculty member or as part of a supervised research team, students investigate important issues related to their academic interests. Students gain valuable experience to include on their resumes or graduate school applications, make professional contacts, and have even earned co-authorship on scholarly publications and conference presentations.
Graduates from this degree program have conducted research in:
- Cybersecurity
- Artificial Intelligence
- IT and Cybersecurity Education
Double Majors
Students can pair the following programs with this degree program for a double major:
Minors
Students can pair the following minors with this degree program:
After Graduation
SRA graduates are in high demand by top companies and government agencies. Our SRA graduates are employed in positions such as information security analyst, AI engineer, cloud data engineer, IT consultant and project manager, security operations center analyst, systems engineer, and IT systems analyst.
Graduates from this degree program have gotten jobs at:
- Lockheed Martin
- Pfizer
- Textron Systems
- U.S. Government
- PP&L
Although SRA graduates do not need additional education to begin their careers, our graduates may decide to continue their education in graduate programs that further enhance their knowledge and skills. Some programs that students have continued their study in include Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Business, and Management.
SRA graduates also pursue technical certifications such as Microsoft, Amazon, CompTIA, Cisco, and CISSP.
Graduates from this degree program have gone on to graduate school at:
- Penn State
- Johns Hopkins
