ODU's Cyber PhD Debuts as School Grows to 1,700 Students

For higher-ed technology leaders, ODU's new cybersecurity Ph.D. is a case study in program differentiation. The university transformed a handful of students into a 1,700-strong School of Cybersecurity, and now it is testing whether a dedicated doctoral degree—rather than a CS concentration—can attract research talent and federal recognition.

Old Dominion University has become the first college in Virginia to offer an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in cybersecurity, with the new Ph.D. path through its School of Cybersecurity accepting its initial cohort in fall 2026. University officials said the program is one of only a handful of its kind nationally and expect between 12 and 15 students to enroll during the 2026-27 academic year. This is not a standalone development; it is the latest inflection point for a school that has grown from what administrators describe as a handful of students a few years ago to roughly 1,700 today. Daniel Takabi, director of the School of Cybersecurity, said students will pursue individualized research focuses spanning artificial intelligence applications to security, cybersecurity infrastructure, supply chain security, and data privacy. The program is explicitly interdisciplinary, with Takabi encouraging applicants from managerial, policy, and legal backgrounds to apply, reflecting an acknowledgment that cyber risk is no longer solely a technical discipline.

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Daniel Takabi, director of the School of Cybersecurity, said students will pursue individualized research focuses spanning artificial intelligence applications to security, cybersecurity infrastructure, supply chain security, and data privacy.

The expansion lands at a moment when demand for cybersecurity expertise is acute and broadening. National data consistently point to an unfilled cybersecurity workforce gap, and universities have been racing to create pathways from certificates to bachelor's and master's degrees. ODU's move into doctoral education signals a shift from producing practitioners to producing researchers, educators, and policy leaders who can shape the next generation of security tools and governance. The research foci are telling: AI applications to security and supply chain security are two of the most urgent vulnerabilities in current national risk assessments, while data privacy intersects with a wave of new state and federal regulations. By structuring the degree as interdisciplinary rather than a narrow computer science offering, ODU is positioning its graduates for roles in academia, government, and industry that require translating between technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

The prior NSA recognition for pioneering artificial intelligence cyber applications adds credibility and signals that ODU has already been operating at the intersection of AI and security. That distinction, attributed to the School of Cybersecurity last year, may help attract research funding, doctoral applicants, and partnerships with defense and intelligence communities. Norfolk's proximity to major military installations and federal agencies gives the program a geographic advantage: graduates and research projects could feed directly into regional national security needs. For the Hampton Roads economy, a doctoral pipeline can anchor a deeper cybersecurity cluster, attracting grants, startups, and established contractors seeking specialized talent.

For higher-education strategy, ODU's program is an experiment in how regional public universities can differentiate themselves without the endowment scale of elite private research institutions. By consolidating cybersecurity under a dedicated school and layering a Ph.D. on top, ODU is building a specialized vertical that may carry more name recognition than a generic computer science department. The enrollment growth to around 1,700 students suggests the school has already validated undergraduate and master's demand; the doctoral program now extends that funnel. If the first cohort of 12 to 15 students succeeds, the school could justify further investment in research labs, faculty lines, and partnerships, but the small initial size also means the program will need time to produce measurable research output and placement data.