December 20, 2004

Trustworthy Computing Subject of Microsoft Award

A Department of Business Administration professor is one of ten recipients funded this month by Microsoft to develop a new course to introduce graduate students to trustworthy computing.

Michael Shaw will develop a course called Introduction to Trustworthy Computing that will cover the four areas of the developing field: security, privacy, reliability, and business integrity. His grant is for $50,000.

The course is expected to be offered for the first time in the spring 2006 semester. In his proposal to Microsoft, Shaw emphasized that his course will integrate technical and business perspectives. "Because of the increasing reliance of major organizations on enterprise IT, this course will focus especially on addressing managerial issues and will draw a parallel between trustworthy computing and the 'total quality management' movement," he said.

Shaw will travel to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA, in February for discussions on trustworthy computing. Shaw, the Leonard C. and Mary Lou Hoeft Endowed Chair in Information Systems and a professor of business administration, notes that the course will fill a gap in the current PhD and MBA curricula.

Final "assets" will be made available in the public domain, both through Microsoft’s Curriculum repository (www.msdnaa.net) and through national information assurance organizations like the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center (niatec.org).