[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




OPENING OF THE FLORIDA CENTER FOR CYBERSECURITY AT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH 
                                FLORIDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Ross) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to bring to the attention 
of my colleagues an important event taking place this Friday in the 
15th Congressional District of Florida which I have the privilege to 
represent.
  With the opening of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity on the 
campus of the University of South Florida, also known as USF, in Tampa 
this Friday, our State marshals the strength of all of Florida's public 
universities to respond to our Nation's cybersecurity workforce needs.
  The center will help develop the next generation of technology to 
prevent cyber attacks and provide a resource for Florida businesses to 
help them prevent and, if necessary, respond to cyber threats.
  I want to congratulate the board of governors for our State 
university system, our Florida State Legislature, and our Florida 
Governor for recognizing the critical importance of the growing cyber 
threat to Florida residents and businessowners throughout the world. 
These leaders are doing something about that threat by establishing the 
Florida Center for Cybersecurity.
  They recognized that with our growing reliance on Internet 
connectivity each and every day, cybersecurity becomes increasingly 
more vital. Cybersecurity reaches every facet of modern life, from 
national security to personal communication, from data storage to 
banking security, from health care privacy to transportation safety.
  In just 7 short months, the center has enrolled its first 100 
students in a special cybersecurity master's degree program. Just last 
October, the program at USF became only the second in the Nation to be 
designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information 
Assurance and Cybersecurity.
  The center continues to address the serious shortfall in our Nation's 
cybersecurity workforce by bringing online degree, certificate, and 
training programs to facilitate industry-recognized specializations to 
enhance the cybersecurity workforce, mitigate cybersecurity threats, 
and attract new businesses to Florida and across our great Nation.
  Most importantly, the university will reach out to our Nation's 
heroes who have proudly served in uniform and return to civilian life 
to allow them to continue to protect our homeland.
  Tampa is the perfect home for this new cyber mission with its close 
proximity to the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special 
Operations Command, and the Joint Cyber Command at MacDill Air Force 
Base.
  The Tampa Bay region is also a center for our State's financial and 
health care industries. National, State, and local businesses--large 
and small--will benefit from the continuing outreach and educational 
programs offered by the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at USF.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud USF's energy and innovation in responding to 
the national and international cyber threat. This is the type of quick 
and thorough response our Nation needs as we bring together the best 
our public and private sectors have to offer in protecting our citizens 
and our businesses from this ongoing threat to our national security, 
our personal security, and economic security.
  Congratulations to USF, and go, Bulls.

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