"This groundbreaking reflects Texas Tech’s growing role in securing the nation’s critical infrastructure," said Stephen Bayne, Vice President for National Security and Executive Director of the university’s Critical Infrastructure Security Institute (CISI).
Texas Tech University has moved from institute to campus-scale capability: the university recently broke ground on a dedicated critical infrastructure security site, an expansion of an institute that the university established in 2024 to assess and develop methods to clarify and mediate vulnerabilities across United States critical infrastructure. The new construction, located at the Reese National Security Complex, is described by university officials as intended to broaden research, innovation and collaboration on national security and critical infrastructure defense.
What the new site is built to do
According to university statements, the expansion will enable CISI to operate as a hub for innovation with the specific ability to test cyber-physical protections and critical power infrastructure. The institute is expected to support work across both research and applied testing domains, expanding its practical capacity to assess systems that the statement says "our nation, state and community depend on every day."
Training, certification and workforce development
The planned facility will not only host testing and research but also offer certification and training for "the next generation of engineers and scientists," the university said. That emphasis on credentials and hands-on training signals an institutional commitment to produce practitioners who can apply standards and mitigation measures developed at the site.
Collaboration with educational, federal and industry partners
CISI will continue to collaborate with educational, federal and industry partners, the university said, focusing those partnerships on two specific objectives: updating networks for greater critical infrastructure security, and developing "new technologies, standards and best practices to decrease vulnerabilities." The language ties the center’s mission to both technical innovation and the procedural work of standards-setting and practice adoption.
Reese National Security Complex as the chosen location
The new construction will take place at Texas Tech’s Reese National Security Complex. The university frames the choice of site as part of a broader expansion in its role on infrastructure security; the Reese complex will host the physical lab and training spaces meant to support the institute’s stated capabilities.
How educational partners, federal partners, and industry partners are positioned
- Educational partners and students: The institute will offer certification and training for engineers and scientists, providing hands-on opportunities for students and academic collaborators to work on cyber-physical protection and critical power infrastructure testing at the Reese site.
- Federal partners and policymakers: The university positions CISI as a collaborator for federal entities seeking to update networks and develop standards, implying a role in translating research and testing into practices that federal partners may adopt.
- Industry partners and operators of critical infrastructure: Industry collaboration is expected to focus on testing protections and co-developing technologies, standards and best practices designed to reduce operational vulnerabilities.
Texas Tech presents this expansion as a practical step from assessment to applied defense: moving beyond identifying vulnerabilities to building, testing and teaching solutions. The university’s framing centers on delivering technologies, standards and certified practitioners that can be deployed against "evolving threats to infrastructure security," in the words of Stephen Bayne.
The next concrete milestone described by the university is the construction activity at the Reese National Security Complex. That ground-breaking marks a physical commitment to the institute’s stated mission: a campus-based hub where testing, collaboration and training will be co-located to support critical-infrastructure resilience.
