CyberCorps Mentoring and Scholarship Program (CMSP)

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Drexel University's College of Computing and Informatics will establish the CyberCorps Mentoring and Scholarship Program (CMSP) to recruit, train, and mentor 17 CMSP Scholars to transition into cybersecurity positions within federal, state, local, or tribal government organizations. The project will develop a CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) initiative that can contribute to improving cybersecurity by increasing the number and diversity of undergraduate students who complete cybersecurity degrees and then take positions within government agencies. The goal is for the CMSP to strengthen national cybersecurity by enhancing both the recruitment and retention of a diverse cybersecurity workforce.A core focus of Drexel's CMSP is the successful recruitment, retention, and support of students who are women, underrepresented minorities, and veterans. The project addresses these groups through multiple forms of mentoring, guided by an approach to student development called Validation Theory. Validation Theory aims to provide a systematic understanding of the role of validation in the transition, persistence, and success of underrepresented college students. Components of the CMSP include faculty-student mentoring, monthly cohort meetings, extracurricular workshops, and other activities designed to validate students. These activities are particularly useful for recruiting and retaining women, underrepresented minorities, and veterans. Scholars will also be required to engage in cooperative education experiences (co-ops) that interleave classroom learning and real-world professional experience. The project will also provide further empirical support for Validation Theory's strengths and weaknesses as a theoretical framework. Existing instruments to understand the effects of Validation Theory will be extended for the CMSP program. A new quantitative instrument will also be developed to assess student perspectives of validation in and outside of classrooms. These products will be shared with the cybersecurity education community to support knowledge building in the areas of student recruiting, mentoring, and job placement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.