The glow of his phone screen is the first light in the room. It’s 6:30 a.m., and before the sun has a chance to rise over Killeen, Dr. Abhijit Kumar Nag is already scrolling through his inbox.
Most professors start their day with research, coffee, maybe a morning lecture. Dr. Nag, an Associate Professor in the Subhani Department of Computer Information Systems at Texas A&M University–Central Texas, starts his day with his student emails.
“Sometimes students work late submitting assignments. They may have some questions. So, I really make sure that whether any students have any questions or concerns, they need to be immediately addressed,” he says.
Nag takes a personal approach to communicating with his students. Sometimes professors tell students to wait for office hours, to read the syllabus, to figure it out. But Nag is different. He’s told his students they can message him directly on Microsoft Teams, where it pings his phone like a text message.
“That way, I can quickly respond in maybe one or two sentences rather than, you know, seeing a laptop, an email,” he explains.
This, he says, is the reality of teaching cybersecurity. It’s not like history or literature, where fundamentals remain stable over time.
“The field of cybersecurity and information systems is changing every six months. If you don’t keep up, you’re already behind.” And that’s why, long before his lectures begin, his work already has.
Before Dr. Nag became a professor, he lived the gap he now helps students overcome.
In 2009, he moved from Southeast Asia to study at the University of Memphis, where he completed a master’s in computer engineering. But instead of immediately diving into a Ph.D., he did something most academics don’t—he spent nearly a year working in industry.
His job? Software developer at FedEx.
At first, it seemed like a natural transition, but the more he worked in the corporate world, the more gaps he noticed in how cybersecurity was handled.
“If you are not in the industry, if you do not do the work, you do not feel what the learning gap is, right?”
It was 2011—a time when cyberattacks were skyrocketing, and yet most professionals were not trained to handle them. Companies were reacting to breaches instead of preventing them. The knowledge required to keep systems secure simply wasn’t keeping up with the pace of technological change.
“That’s when I realized—this is an area that needs research, needs solutions, needs people.”
So, instead of settling into industry work, he returned to academia and enrolled in a Ph.D. program in cybersecurity. He knew that if he wanted to make a real impact, he had to be part of the solution at its foundation: education.
While completing his Ph.D., he worked on federally funded cybersecurity projects with FEMA, NSF, and DARPA—some of the largest research bodies in the U.S. By 2017, before he even had time to fully celebrate graduating, he was offered a faculty position at A&M–Central Texas.
In Dr. Nag’s classroom, textbooks are just the beginning. His students solve real-world cyber threats in a controlled environment.
“We don’t just want students to learn theories—we want them to have hands-on training so that they can show real projects to employers,” he said.
Instead of spending an entire semester learning concepts in isolation, students apply them immediately—whether it’s through penetration testing exercises, digital forensic investigations, or malware analysis.
Why? Because he knows what’s waiting for them after graduation.
“Your career is not just about getting your degree—it’s about how you continuously update your skills to stay relevant,” Nag said.
Nag said the cybersecurity job market doesn’t really care about how many theoretical models potential employees can recite—it cares about what they can do. And his students? They remember that.
“Recently, a student who graduated a couple of years back reached out to me. He wanted my lecture materials because he was preparing for a cybersecurity certificate course. That, to me, is success,” he said.
The world is desperate for more cybersecurity experts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cybersecurity jobs are projected to grow by 33% over the next decade—more than eight times faster than the average job market. The problem, according to Nag, is there are not enough people to fill them.
“Cybersecurity is not just adaptive; it’s exponentially growing. If we don’t train more students, we are leaving a workforce gap in our country.”
That gap, he said, is a national security risk.
Massive cyberattacks like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, the SolarWinds hack, and the Equifax breach have proven that one vulnerability can cripple entire industries. And the attacks aren’t slowing down. This is why Nag has been instrumental in launching cybersecurity certificate programs at A&M-Central Texas for working professionals looking to transition into the field.
“Not everyone can enroll in a full degree program. That’s why we created these certificates—so that professionals from other industries can gain cybersecurity expertise and fill critical job openings.”
According to Nag, the certificate programs, as well as the degree programs, cater to students from various industry backgrounds who are looking to make a difference in cybersecurity.
“We see students from healthcare, from business, from all kinds of industries. They realize they need cybersecurity knowledge to stay relevant in their field,” he said. This, to him, is how real change happens—not waiting for the next generation to go through four-year programs, but by training the workforce that’s already out there, right now.
Throughout working on all of his research and patents, it’s teaching these students that fill Nag with the most pride and accomplishment. “When you help a student reach their milestone and they are successful, that’s when you feel like you are doing your job in the right way… this is actually not a job, it’s actually a commitment to my students,” he said.
And in a world that increasingly depends on digital security, his commitment might just be one of the most important ones of all.