SPRINGFIELD — The University of Massachusetts Amherst will get $15 million to dramatically expand its research and teaching in data sciences and cybersecurity, an investment that officials say could pay big dividends in western Massachusetts and beyond.
The money will come from the MassMutual Foundation, Nick Fyntrilakis, MassMutual’s vice president of community responsibility and president of the foundation, said at a press conference.
“We live in a world increasingly driven by data,” said Fyntrilakis, adding that the average data breach costs a company $160 million. “How organizations deal with this data will make a critical difference in their ability to compete.”
During the briefing at the UMass Center in Springfield’s Tower Square, leaders from MassMutual, UMass and state government outlined the rapidly growing need for data analysis and cyber security.
“All of this means that society needs to be better prepared to address this rapid change, and to do so we need to ensure our region has the workforce and the skills to meet these challenges head-on,” Fyntrilakis said.
Officials said the award will spur the high-tech economy, creating jobs and furthering the commonwealth’s reputation as a technology hub.
“Massachusetts can and will be the first big data hub in the world,” said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop. “And by hub I don’t just mean the city of Boston — I mean the entire Commonwealth.”
The university’s Center for Data Science will get $12 million from the grant. The center will use the money to hire additional faculty, double the number of data science courses offered and triple the size of the master’s program in computer science.
The remaining $3 million goes to the university’s Cybersecurity Institute, which establishes a new training program called the “trust assurance cybersecurity certificate.”
All of this, said officials, not only enhances the university’s ability to educate students but will also supply the commonwealth with a skilled workforce in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries.
“We take our mission of meeting the needs of the commonwealth very seriously,” said UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, calling the relationship with MassMutual a historic public-private partnership between two of the largest employers in western Massachusetts. “This (UMass Center) wouldn’t be here without the help of MassMutual.”
Despite a recent report from the Pioneer Institute that criticized university spending, UMass President Marty Meehan said “research at the University of Massachusetts drives the economy in this state.”
“Data science results in discovery,” said DeLeo. “That’s something I truly believe will happen because of this gift.”
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, underlined the potential in the areas of research getting the infusion of cash.
“We’re going to set the stage for cybersecurity success in Massachusetts,” said Rosenberg. “Look what we did in a seven-year period with life sciences — we are now the number-one state in America in research and number 10 in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industry.”
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, introduced as a mayor who has made economic development the hallmark of his administration, held up his flip phone to the crowd.
“My security’s a piece of tape,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Sarno called UMass a research and development “monster.”
“R and D leads to economic development and jobs,” he said. “The best is yet to come.”