The Center for Information and Cyber Security (CICS) led by computer science and engineering professor Ram Dantu at the University of North Texas has been named as a winner in the annual Innovation Awards. The awards are presented by D CEO and Dallas Innovates to honor innovation across the region. The center was recognized in the Innovation in Education category and was the only higher education entity represented in the category.

"Dr. Dantu has long been a leader in the field of cybersecurity, and his cutting-edge research has moved the industry — and our university — forward in important ways," said UNT Provost Michael McPherson. "He has taught and mentored countless students over his storied career, and I am proud to see his groundbreaking work and deep commitment to student success be recognized with this award."

CICS is an interdisciplinary group with faculty members from the College of Engineering, College of Information and the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. Its mission is to promote education, research and service projects that strengthen cybersecurity and provide high-quality coursework for students in the field.

“We are very excited for this award because we believe our project is something that has never been done before and will advance workforce development,” said Dantu.

The project which earned the award is called Microtranscript, a work-skills readiness tool. The program breaks down student’s coursework to highlight specific skills learned and how the student performed in each area.

“Normally, a student only has a transcript, but that doesn’t tell hiring managers if they’re proficient in a programming language or not,” Dantu said. “This breaks down their course into usable skills and scores them as beginner, intermediate and advanced.”

For example, Microtranscript can take a course such as Foundations of Cybersecurity and break it into categories such as cyberterrorism, cyber-assisted crimes and federal laws and authorities. Dantu said the program will help interns in the computer science and engineering start contributing more quickly when hired.

“Most internships last around three to four months, but it takes students around that long to get up to speed,” he said. “This way they’re productive from day one and are ready to help on a small module of a larger project.”

Microtranscript is currently built for computer science and engineering skills, particularly in cybersecurity. Dantu said he and his graduate students working on the project use knowledge units specified by the National Security Agency to structure the program. They are also working to expand it for other engineering disciplines and biology.

“The beauty of Microtranscript is that it can be adapted for any discipline that has a national association or agency that defines certification standards,” he said.

Instructors assign applicable knowledge units to the rubric for an assignment, such as a quiz. The student’s grade then translates into points towards the knowledge unit, with 100 as the highest score. In its current trial form, the microtranscript is tied to one class, but the goal is for it to follow a student through their college career, updating as they complete new courses.

“It adds a new level of trust with companies,” Dantu said. “The microtranscript is authenticated by the professor and shows that a student applicant knows the skills they say they have.”

The program is being piloted at UNT, the University of New Haven, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Hawaii. After the first trial concludes in 2026, Dantu said they plan to expand it in stages to 30 additional universities across the country.

The Microtranscript program is funded through a $3 million Department of Defense grant. It is part of a larger effort to modernize the DoD’s hiring and upskilling processes. The initiative uses advanced AI to assess employees’ skill levels and recommend suitable jobs and certificates to help them advance.

“This is all aimed at streamlining hiring while also providing clear pathways for individuals to upskill and qualify for highly specialized roles,” Dantu said. “We’re excited to get this rolled out to other universities and hopefully see it expand to other fields and government agencies.”