A report released by the Michigan Ponemon Institute on Feb. 24 listed Mississippi State University at No. 3 with having the nation’s top cyber security programs as well as being named a “best value” school within the Southern United States region by the notable best value schools website.
According to a Hewlett Packard-sponsored survey from the Ponemon Institue, MSU’s cyber security courses and degree programs have earned this high ranking within the nation, and the university’s high return on investments acquired a position at No. 11 as a best value school of the South. MSU is the only school within Mississippi that made the “best value” list.
Mark Keenum, president of MSU, said the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command have designated MSU as a center of academic excellence in three primary disciplines — cyber operations, information assurance and education and information assurance research.
“At Mississippi State, we have three cyber security research centers. The center for computer security research, the national forensics training center and the critical infrastructure protection center,” Keenum said. “Our Mississippi State center for computer security research is dedicated to the scientific exploration of computer vulnerabilities with the objective of improving protectant prevention techniques through our core research areas. We at MSU promote computer security education research, and we are nationally acclaimed in these areas.”
Keenum said these fields are of increasing importance to the government at all levels and in the business and industry private sectors.
“Our nation is under constant attack from other countries,” Keenum said. “It is imperative that we have a strong security system in place, and I’m just so proud that the work we’re doing at MSU in this area is recognized at the highest levels.”
“In fact, this distinction shows that MSU remains on the cutting edge of this revolving technology,” Keenum said.
John Hamilton, vice president of research at MSU, said today’s technology has created a broad spectrum for good and bad possibilities of what is leaked and put out on the Internet, something good cyber security programs are designed to facilitate at MSU.
“We have a critical mass of faculty that are interested in cyber security. Trying to hire cyber security faculty is really hard. The industry offers are amazing, but we’ve got three on campus who work full time in our cyber security,” Hamilton said. “What happens when you have a fully-funded cyber security research program is it attracts students, and MSU has done a very good job at attracting high caliber cyber security students, and they’ve been spectacular hires.”
Bill Broyles, vice president of student affairs, said MSU’s “best value” merit reassures parents and students the value of education received at MSU will achieve a great return.
“It tells the world of what we already knew, which is that we have world-class faculty and the absolutely best students in the country right here,” Broyles said. “While money certainly isn’t everything, the value of the education at MSU is unmatched. I’m very proud to be on the team here.”
Broyles said cyber security is very important, and MSU produces great students who will help keep the Internet safe.
“We have a long history of great cyber security programs here, and we’ve had countless grant opportunities with the department of defense, training, experts of cyber security and law enforcement and FBI,” Broyles said. “So, we are on the cutting edge of making sure that the Internet and things related are secure.” 
In light of the two prestigious accolades, Keenum said MSU’s “best value” declaration helps back up his notion to potential students and their families on how an MSU degree is both a bargain and a ticket to changing the lives of graduates.
“MSU graduates earn more money on average than graduates of other Mississippi universities. That is an impactful statistic — one that I take enormous pride in,” Keenum said. “For the second time in a year, Mississippi State ranked among the top United States public universities for return on investments. We made the bestvalueschools.com, we were the Southern United States best value school coming in at No. 11 and, in fact, Mississippi State was the only school in Mississippi to make this impressive list.”
According to Keenum, MSU is not only highly ranked among public schools, but has also been specifically recognized for the high level of its engineering and veterinary medicine programs.
“Mississippi State has been recognized as one of the nation’s best buys by ‘Forbes’ magazine and ‘Kiplinger,’” Keenum said. “I was very pleased that last spring an analysis by the ‘Wall Street Journal’ on college costs gave Mississippi State a return on investments to students of nearly eight percent, which was by far the highest return of any investment in any school in Mississippi.”
Keenum said the same magazine listed MSU graduates as obtaining the state’s highest average starting salaries than any other school in Miss.  
“Our average starting salary is $41,000, and when you compare that with the average Mississippian at Mississippi State with a bachelor’s degree, the average salary in the state is $40,000,” he said. “That’s impressive, and that shows the value of a degree from Mississippi State.”