UW-Milwaukee earned Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 1 in January and aims to reach Level 2 by November, a milestone the university says will make its researchers eligible for a wider pool of defense-related federal projects at a moment when federal research funding is scarce.

The certification requirements come from the Department of Defense and apply to both universities and companies working on defense projects. Level 1 obliged UWM to verify that it applies cybersecurity practices protecting even non-classified research information: university policies, door locks, cameras in selected research spaces and access control lists restricting lab entry to authorized personnel.

Level 2 raises both the bar and the cost. It requires building secure lab spaces and creating a secure data enclave — an isolated segment of the university's computer network. Ali Abedi, UWM's vice chancellor for research, noted that researchers cannot even view the calls for proposals for these federal projects without a secure channel. He plans to apply for grants to fund the Level 2 upgrades, which means the timeline to November depends partly on external funding arriving.

No Wisconsin university currently holds Level 2 certification. Both UW-Madison and UWM are working toward it, and Abedi said the two institutions are "trying to work together as much as possible" to find cost savings — for example, by sharing the consultants the certification process requires.

The Office of Research frames CMMC as both a funding gateway and a tool for regional economic development. UWM and WisPolitics recently co-hosted a panel on university-industry cooperation to grow defense-related employment in a state that currently holds a modest 16,000 defense-industry positions.

Rob Cuzner, professor of electrical engineering and director of UWM's Center for Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems, told the panel that Level 2 certification will let UWM researchers pursue federal projects jointly with area firms. His lab's portfolio offers a concrete example of the model: applied research in power and electricity, including work on the U.S. Navy's push for next-generation all-electric ships, carried out in partnership with Leonardo DRS and the Eaton Corporation, both based in the Milwaukee area.

The workforce pipeline matters as much as the contracts. The Milwaukee region has a high concentration of companies in energy, power, controls and automation, Cuzner said, "and they need graduate students with specialized training, who've got hands-on experience in key emerging areas." Two recent PhD graduates from his lab now work for Leonardo DRS. "To me that's a huge success," he said.

UWM also has a portfolio stake in the outcome: the university is working to retain its R1, or "highest research activity," designation, and CMMC could open a funding stream that supports that status.

For research managers, the civilian spillover argument is worth weighing alongside the defense label. "Department of Defense research is not all about weapons and missiles," Abedi said, pointing to early computing, the internet, health care and AI as fields that grew out of military research. Cuzner's own work — energy systems, grid hardening in constrained environments such as naval vessels, and energy storage integration — points toward land-based applications for electric microgrids at military bases, medical campuses and urban neighborhoods.

The policy rationale behind CMMC is intellectual property protection. Over recent decades, technologies developed in the United States, including microchips and advanced semiconductors, moved to manufacturing elsewhere, leaving proprietary information exposed to corporate espionage and theft. "It's like everyone can now get the recipe for the secret sauce, that special skill or small, tiny detail," Abedi said. "Once those recipes go, it's hard to get them back. The whole reason for CMMC is to not let that happen again."

The certification regime also creates structured channels for universities, companies and the federal government to share data with lower theft risk — a practical prerequisite for the kind of collaboration Cuzner describes. "The university is a really important, untapped resource, but in order for it to work, you've got to be able to make it possible for stakeholders to work together," he said.

The immediate watch items are procedural: whether grant funding for the Level 2 build-out arrives in time, and whether UWM and UW-Madison can execute their shared-consultant cost-sharing plan before the November target.