Computer Science, IT department secures $25K software donation

UNK Computer Science and Information Technology students Spencer Knight of North Platte, left, and Devin McIntyre of Odell work with an Intel Galileo hardware development board. UNK received 10 of the circuit boards as part of Intel’s University Donation Program. Students will use the Galileo boards in several courses, such as operating systems and computer organization. They also can be used in research projects in areas of robotics, sensor networks or embedded systems.
UNK Computer Science and Information Technology students Spencer Knight of North Platte, left, and Devin McIntyre of Odell work with an Intel Galileo hardware development board. UNK received 10 of the circuit boards as part of Intel’s University Donation Program. Students will use the Galileo boards in several courses, such as operating systems and computer organization. They also can be used in research projects in areas of robotics, sensor networks or embedded systems.

Intel Galileo hardware boards secured in separate deal

By TODD GOTTULA
UNK Communications

KEARNEY – The Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at the University of Nebraska at Kearney has received a software donation valued at $25,000 over five years.

Tenable Network Security Inc. waived the lease cost of $5,000 per year for the Nessus Enterprise software, which gives students in system administration and computer security courses use of the software in preparation for their careers as system administrators.

Shahram Alavi copy
Shahram Alavi

In a separate grant involving the department, 10 Intel Galileo hardware development boards have been given to UNK as part of the Intel Galileo University Donation Program.

CSIT faculty member Shahram Alavi wrote the proposal that secured both deals.

Nessus is a vulnerability, configuration and compliance scanning software. It features high-speed discovery, configuration auditing, asset profiling, malware detection, sensitive data discovery, patch management integration and vulnerability analysis.

UNK offers the only information technology Bachelor of Science program in Nebraska. Students can choose between three areas of emphasis: system administration, web development or general IT.

Sherri Harms copy
Sherri Harms

Securing the Nessus software at no charge is key in preparing UNK system administration majors for professional system administration careers, said Sherri Harms, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology.

“These high demand professionals are needed to run and secure the day-to-day computer operations for organizations in every industry,” Harms said.

“One of the main responsibilities of a professional system administrator is to identify computer systems’ vulnerabilities,” added Harms. “It is critical that the UNK IT program teach students how to address this complicated problem through hands-on experiences.”

INTEL GALILEO

UNK’s proposal in receiving the 10 Galileo hardware boards focused on how the hardware would be used to introduce students to different architectures and operating systems. The Galileo computer is a circuit board that’s a little larger than a credit card and uses Intel’s Quark processor. It retails for $60.

UNK students will use the Galileo boards in several courses, such as operating systems and computer organization. They also can be used in research projects in areas of robotics, sensor networks or embedded systems.

-30-

Writer: Todd Gottula, 308.865.8454, gottulatm@unk.edu
Contact: Sherri Harms, 308.865.8123, harmssk@unk.edu

 

One thought on “Computer Science, IT department secures $25K software donation

Leave a Reply to Ben Thompson Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *