Louisiana Tech’s SOC is Fast-Tracking Students into Louisiana’s Cyber Workforce
Louisiana Tech University and TekStream partnered to create a student-run SOC powered by Splunk, strengthening campus security, accelerating workforce readiness and positioning the university for national research funding.
Louisiana Tech has a legacy of steady leadership, with only three long-tenured presidents since the 1960s. Its student population leans heavily into engineering, business, and the applied sciences—supported by a culture of experiential learning through competitions, co-ops, and entrepreneurship. Workforce development has long been part of Tech’s DNA, with strong industry partnerships and real-world training built into the student journey.
However, cybersecurity required a new level of hands-on immersion, one that a traditional academic track alone couldn’t deliver. To build a functioning SOC run by students, Louisiana Tech needed a partner who could integrate Splunk, real operational use cases and workforce-ready training into a program that produces job-ready analysts, not just classroom credit.
Technology Used
Splunk Cloud
Splunk SIEM
Splunk SOAR
Splunk ES
Splunk Security Administration
MDR
Neighborhood watch threat awareness sharing
TekStream Workforce Academy Student Accreditation
Project Pain Points
Fragmented Security Operations The university lacked centralized visibility into security events, making it difficult to monitor threats, analyze risks, or coordinate responses across departments.
Limited Pathways for Workforce Development Traditional academic programs couldn’t keep pace with the cybersecurity workforce demand. Students had limited access to live, hands-on environments aligned with NIST/NICE frameworks.
Unsustainable Program Funding Security and training initiatives relied heavily on short-term grants or departmental budgets, with no mechanism for long-term cost recovery or program self-sufficiency.
Missed Opportunities for Research and Grants Without a production-grade SOC or measurable outcomes, the university struggled to qualify for NSF and DoD grant funding tied to cybersecurity innovation and workforce impact.
Business Problems
Dr. Thomas Hoover, Chief Information Officer, had an eye for the robust security needs of a university like LA Tech, but he also sought partnership with the College of Engineering and Sciences. Collaborating with faculty members and academic advisors, the vision was to enhance the university’s security posture and to create advantageous career opportunities for the students.
Building an academic program the traditional way is a lengthy process, which can be seen as a barrier to enrollment growth and degree validation. With the example of other universities who have worked with TekStream and Splunk, Dr. Hoover and his department sought a solution inside the security operations center (SOC).
Program Objectives
- Increased security posture needed to protect students and intellectual property
- Create a sustainable program that pays for itself over time using student resources
- SLA ownership by professional services firm
- On-campus lab that trains students working in the SOC and is a showcase to recruits and benefactors
- Endowed professorship and scholarship opportunities
- Positioning for NSF grants and other funding opportunities, including Department of Defense contracts
Early Wins
- Real-world workforce development: Students gain hands-on cybersecurity experience by working in a live, production-grade SOC environment, accelerating career readiness.
- Accredited training program: the SOC matches alert complexity with skill attainment, giving the university cost-containment leverage. Students engage with threat hunting, log analysis, incident response and risk reporting, all mapped to NIST/NICE frameworks and backed by TekStream expertise.
- Public-private partnership excellence: in the shared-SOC created by TekStream and Splunk, LA Tech gains advanced cybersecurity operations within their budget with the benefit of neighborhood watch enforcement.
- Recruitment, retention and reputation boost: The program helps the university attract high-performing students interested in cybersecurity careers. With the accreditation received in the LA Tech program, students graduate with 2+ years of cybersecurity experience and a transcript demonstrating the complexity and breadth of their training.
Key Successes
The university, under Dr. Hoover’s guidance, has developed a team focused on the academic and technical success of the student-SOC. Hiring a recent PhD as director of the SOC, the initial group of students have begun their training and will be managing SOC activities in the fall semester. Within 6 months of launch, they expect about 20 students will be employed.
Expansion to other academic disciplines has already begun, including healthcare, financial services and other specialties. The cybersecurity experience latches onto their primary academic program and gives the student a level-up when entering the workforce. Private enterprises place a premium on graduates who’ve earned the Associate Security Analyst certification through the TekStream SOC program, recognizing it as equivalent to up to two years of practical cybersecurity experience, an advantage that sets them apart from peers entering the job market.
About The Company
Company: Louisiana Tech University
Size: 12,500 students and 1,700 faculty/staff
Location: Ruston, LA
Industry: Higher Education
Get the blueprint for building a student-run SOC on your campus here.