; it is funded through the Infrastructure Protection and Information Security appropriation under the National Protection and Programs Directorate. (2) The Department of Homeland Security’s CE&A works with universities to attract top talent through competitive scholarship, fellowship, and internship programs. (3) The agency certifies more than 125 institutions nationwide as National Centers for Academic Excellence to teach students valuable technical skills in various disciplines of Information Assurance. (4) The CE&A prepares and makes available computer and information security lesson plans. At the K–12 level, the Department has partnered with USA Today to provide lesson plans about the importance of prevention of computer and digital information crimes at home and in the classroom. (5) The agency initiated the IT Security Essential Body of Knowledge (EBK). The National Cybersecurity Division developed the EBK to establish a national baseline of the essential knowledge and skills that IT security practitioners in the public and private sector should have to perform specific roles and responsibilities. (6) The challenge for computer and information security coordination and development is no single agreed upon voluntary taxonomy nor definitions to rely upon when categorizing or classifying computer or information security jobs. (7) The fields of computer and information security study is within the field of information assurance. (8) The information assurance, cybersecurity and computer security workforce encompasses a variety of context, roles, and occupations and is too broad and diverse to be treated as a single occupation or profession. (9) Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics occupations, which include computer and information security experts and professionals, are expected to grow by 17 percent by the year 2018 compared to 9.8 percent for other jobs. (10) The Federal Government is experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals with expertise in computer and information security. (11)