27-05-2025
USC Aiken breaks ground on new Cyber Integration Center
AIKEN, S.C. (WJBF) — Big changes are coming to USC Aiken. The school's getting a major cyber training hub. USC Aiken is breaking ground on a new Cyber Integration Center cost $44 million — the Guard's biggest project since World War II. It's part of a $145 million cybersecurity upgrade in the region. It's been more than 10 years in the making.
'So after almost two years, it was actually 22 months of work that our delegation put into this, we were able to secure over $169 million for investments from the (plutonium) settlement that our colleagues in the General Assembly approved in June of 2022. And the lieutenant Governor and Governor McMaster supported us.' Sen. Tom Young shared.
The Cyber Integration Center will support defense, training, research, and workforce be built next to the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative on the school's former ball fields. 'This project promises to be a platform for human and technological advancement focused on education, workforce development, prototyping, and education,' South Carolina National Guard Adj. Gen. Maj. Gen. Robin B. Stilwell said.
More than 400 cybersecurity students will get hands-on training in the center's student-run Regional Security Operations Center—one of only a few in the nation. 'RSOC provides cybersecurity protection services not only for the university, but to underserved partners such as school districts, nonprofits, and rural infrastructure,' USC Aiken Chancellor Dr. Daniel Heimmermann revealed.
Leaders want to train the next generation of cyber pros—and keep them in South Carolina. 'My commitment to you is that we'll continue to guide that, continue to send that message so that here in the US we can cultivate and really here in South Carolina the best and brightest to go into AI and cybersecurity right here in our amazing institutions,' Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette said.
'This energy of what's happening in cyber operations and cybersecurity, in partnership with academia, with industry, with the active guard and reserve is something unique and something that is significantly contributing to our national security,' Commanding Officer of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence Maj. Gen. Ryan M. Janovic added.
Construction is expected to wrap up in 2026.
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