Students wanting to show off their science savvy will soon have the option of exploring careers as forensic specialists and cyber intelligence analysts.

To do so, students can begin enrolling next fall in a new interdisciplinary major in security and information analysis to be housed in the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST).

IST Dean Jim Thomas said information analysis and assurance is necessary for a technologically advanced worldwide economy. "As we move more and more to a digital-based global economy, this is one of the things that is supporting that economy," he said. "Those things require graduates of the 21st-century university to understand what's going on."

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said the program will focus on preventing identity theft, fraud, risk management, data analysis and other areas of national security.

Thomas said graduates of the program would be able to find careers in both business and government fields, such as security engineer, intelligence analyst, forensic specialist, auditor and cyber intelligence analyst.

The program would involve more than just technology and computers, he said.

"It's linked to a lot of different disciplines," Thomas said. "The security major is really involving theories, tools, models and frameworks from literally just about every college at the university."

Thomas said he hopes the program can develop into a graduate program as well.

"We hope that this would evolve into graduate programs, certificates, outreach and so on," he said. "There's nothing planned yet -- we're going to get the undergraduate program in place, and then go to phase two."

Kendig said Penn State President Graham Spanier and other faculty met with government and business leaders Nov. 9 to gather input about the program.

"We had representatives from the CIA, some of the nation's leading banking corporations and technology firms," he said.

Kendig said the program was proposed in response to demands from the workforce.

"This is a growing area with a lot of opportunities for graduates," he said. "Any field involving information technology has a security and information analysis component to it."

Kendig said because the program is in its early stages, the curriculum is not determined yet.

"We're still at the ground-floor level," he said. "It's way too early to be talking about the curriculum -- creating a new major is a very deliberate task at any university."

Six colleges will contribute to the program: the Smeal College of Business, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Communications, the College of the Liberal Arts, the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Dickinson School of Law.

Thomas said an internal committee would begin meeting after Thanksgiving to design the program and decide which new courses the university will need develop. The program's curriculum will be presented to the Faculty Senate in the spring.