Dr. Melissa Danforth

Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
California State University, Bakersfield

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Global Intelligence and National Security Advisory Notes
The GINS program is a multi-disciplinary program currently housed under the School of Social Sciences and Education (SSE) in the Department of Political Science. Students seeking information on the GINS concentration in the Political Science major should contact the GINS director Mark Martinez in Political Science. This page is just for those who wish to combine GINS with Computer Science or Computer Engineering degrees.

Information Security Concentration in Computer Science
The Information Security (IS) concentration in the Computer Science major is intended for students who wish to pursue a career in information assurance and security, either with government agencies or with industry. The concentration combines Computer Science, Mathematics, and GINS courses to create an interdisciplinary approach to information assurance education. This concentration was added to the catalog in Fall 2013.

The general format of the IS concentration is to take a core in Computer Sciences, electives in cybersecurity or data science, cognates in mathematics and professional ethics, and then a GINS cognate. The GINS cognate exposes students to the geopolitical, historical, and linguistic aspects of cybersecurity, so students develop both a strong technical foundation and a broad view of cybersecurity.

Please refer to the CEE/CS Degree Information page for information about the Quarter-to-Semester transition and for advising checklists for the semester-system catalogs.

Computer Science minor for GINS and SSE majors
A Political Science or Criminal Justice major who wishes to pursue a Computer Science minor should focus on information security related courses within the Computer Science degree. This requires selecting specific course options within the Computer Science minor. The following document gives some advisory notes on which courses to select:

Computer Science minor with Information Security focus (quarter): DOC PDF

Please refer to the CEE/CS Degree Information page for information about the Quarter-to-Semester transition and for the advising checklists for semester-system catalogs.

GINS minor for Computer Science/Engineering majors
There is no official GINS minor in the catalog, but students can declare a Special Minor with GINS coursework. Students interested in this option should schedule an advising appointment with Melissa Danforth or Mark Martinez.

For students in Computer Science/Engineering who do not want to switch to the Information Security concentration, the biggest challenge with adding a GINS minor to the Computer Science or Computer Engineering major is the number of courses required. The minor courses will not double-count towards the major requirements for the traditional Computer Science or Computer Engineering degrees. However, the Computer Information Systems concentration in Computer Science can count the GINS courses towards their elective requirements (CIS students can offset general electives with a declared minor, but they cannot offset the 4000-level advanced CMPS elective).

Strategic/Critical Languages Information
Information Security and GINS majors can offset some of the Focus Area courses with language courses for languages that have been designated as a "Critical Language" or "Strategic Language" by the U.S. government. At CSUB, the only critical language currently offered (on occasion) is Chinese. Several community colleges in the area offer Chinese or Japanese.

The following are additional resources for developing foreign language skills:

NSF SFS Dissemination Workshop
This workshop was primarily for K-12 teachers and university instructors who are interested in the materials developed for the two cybersecurity REVS-UP sections at CSUB. REVS-UP is a 4 week summer program for high school students, where students are on campus all day Monday - Thursday for the duration of the program. CSUB's NSF SFS grant sponsored two sections of REVS-UP focusing on general cybersecurity and on cryptography.