Innovative Legitimate Non-Traditional Doctorate Programs in Cybersecurity, Engineering, and Technology

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) the number of complaints about cyberattacks to their cyber division is up to as many as 4,000 a day. Every year in the U.S., 40,000 jobs for information security analysts go unfilled, and employers are struggling to fill 200,000 other cybersecurity-related roles. Colleges and universities have created certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs to train professionals in these job roles. The challenge to meeting the cybersecurity workforce shortage through degree programs is intensified by the reality of the limited number of cybersecurity and engineering faculty at colleges and universities. This chapter explores the essential need to develop more doctorate faculty in technology-related areas and explains some unique and non-traditional paths to doctoral completion that allow professionals with significant real-world work experience to complete a doctorate without career interruption and relocation from highly respected and established universities in the US and the UK.