UTD SFS Renewal: Growing a Cybersecurity Community thru SFS Scholarship Program at UTD

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This project seeks to continue the University of Texas at Dallas' (UTD) participation in the CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to prepare highly-qualified Cybersecurity professionals for entry into the government workforce. The main goals of this project, hosted at a Center for Academic Excellence in Education and Research, are: (1) to train up to 28 highly qualified graduate students to become expert professionals in various areas of Cybersecurity, and (2) to provide necessary mentoring and support to successfully place them in federal jobs to help address the shortage of skilled professionals in this critical area. The students will complete a graduate concentration track in Cybersecurity in the Computer Science department or a new Cybersecurity interdisciplinary certificate as part of the Systems Engineering program. A course on digital forensics is a collaborative effort with the North Texas FBI labs. UTD CyberCorps® SFS students are involved in active research and have published numerous papers in prestigious journals and conferences. The NSF's CyberCorps® SFS program funds projects that address cybersecurity education and workforce development. The Scholarship Track provides funding to award scholarships to students in cybersecurity. In return for their scholarships, recipients will work after graduation for a Federal, State, Local, or Tribal Government organization in a position related to cybersecurity for a period equal to the length of the scholarship. The Capacity Track seeks innovative proposals leading to an increase in the ability of the United States higher education enterprise to produce cybersecurity professionals. To date, the program has graduated 22 CyberCorps® SFS students and almost doubled graduate student enrollment in Cybersecurity courses. This project involves several different aspects to build a comprehensive program and to provide awareness, training and formal education in Cybersecurity to various groups of the population. The annual Texas Security Awareness Week event will serve as a state-wide Cybersecurity outreach activity. UTD CyberCorps® SFS students become experts in high-demand areas such as malicious code analysis. They learn practical aspects of computer systems during hands-on labs including binary code analysis, kernel internals, malware unpacking, or library interposition to transparently harden software.