DTCC’s recently announced collaboration with NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering aims to help expand the educational institution’s resiliency and cybersecurity research, educational and professional development opportunities for students. This five-year collaboration allows DTCC to provide expert knowledge and hands-on experience to the resiliency and cybersecurity leaders of tomorrow.
“One of the things we look for within the specific institutions we partner with is to advance some of our objectives for workforce development, research and overall engagement. This is part of that entire strategic journey,” said Sharad Joshi, DTCC Managing Director, Head of Digital Services and Governance and Lead, Academia Partnerships. He said the resiliency and cybersecurity collaboration with NYU also creates a “strong pipeline” for attracting interns and future employees.
DTCC Connection caught up with Joshi and Joel Caminer, Senior Director at the NYU Center for Cybersecurity, who are leading the resiliency and cybersecurity program, to learn more about this relationship.
DC: This collaboration represents a landmark opportunity for financial services and academia. What excites you the most about this new venture?
SJ: From my perspective, NYU Tandon has a very rich academic and research history. I'm most excited about how we will leverage both the NYU Tandon and DTCC resources to advance strategic goals together in the industry and marketplace.
JC: I would echo that last statement in terms of really making an impact to both the industry, and academic and research circles. In the areas that we're going to collaboratively invest in and do additional work, it's a wonderful opportunity for all of us. I'm most looking forward to the opportunity for our students, faculty and researchers to work directly with DTCC and experts in their field who have a tremendous amount of real-world, practical experience. It’s an exciting opportunity for researchers and students to engage, interact, share and learn from each other.
DC: What are some of the benefits you are hoping to gain from the relationship?
SJ: The collaboration will be built on three pillars: research and innovation, recruitment, and educational program development. One of the core things that we are focusing on is: How do we bring our DTCC brand to the NYU campus? For NYU students, it is a great opportunity to engage with DTCC -- not only on projects, but also on potential career opportunities through internships or full-time roles.
JC: We already have cutting edge research across a number of different aspects of cybersecurity, but the resources to invest more heavily and actually build out long-term focus and specialization around cybersecurity and resiliency is a tremendous opportunity on the research front. Education and workforce development is another area with potential. We already run some of the leading cybersecurity academic programs, and with DTCC, we can build new focus in this combined area, and make that available as a specialization or a new program for students. Lastly, this is good for career opportunities for our students with summer internships or graduates moving into full-time roles.
DC: What new or enhanced opportunities will be available as a result of these collaborative efforts?
SJ: There is an exciting opportunity to work together on vertically integrated projects, which NYU has proposed as one of the vehicles to advance some of our project-driven work. This means DTCC picks specific project ideas, shares them with NYU, and if we are all in agreement, we move forward with the execution, proper coaching and mentoring from both DTCC and NYU. The second opportunity is more focused on research and thought leadership on resiliency in cybersecurity.
JC: The opportunity to not only do research, but to build brand recognition of the work and the leadership that our two organizations are doing in this field is appealing. I think it will be a natural draw and attract even greater numbers [of students and researchers] through this joint effort.
DC: How do you see this evolving over the next five years?
SJ: Both DTCC and NYU Tandon leadership are very committed to this collaboration. Often, if you don't have sponsorship at the top, efforts will fizzle out – and that’s not the case here. Recently, DTCC hosted a career day on campus at NYU Tandon. We had very good discussions about career opportunities, our functions, what DTCC does, and how the work relates to students. The continued support and dedication from both DTCC and NYU are key to our ongoing progress and success and will enable us to provide many great opportunities to students. As this partnership continues to evolve, we will focus on specific areas of research and vertically integrated projects with NYU, along with developing specific courses on risk management and resiliency".
JC: First we need to deliver on the premise of the partnership and establish the foundation across our students, researchers, academic programs, and DTCC. The pressure is on to meet or exceed everyone’s expectations. We have also planned phases two and three based on the success and benefits of the foundational phase one, leading to further research activity, greater engagement with government agencies and industry groups, and possibly even an endowed Chair or Director leading these initiatives. We will get to the point where we're looking to expand the work that we've already talked about across research, collaboration and visibility of this discipline. I'm excited at the prospects, and I think we will really have a focus, brand and a niche in this area, and it will enable us to bring in top tier professionals and researchers.