CyberCorps SFS: Preparing the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Professionals

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Developing a well-trained cybersecurity workforce is broadly critical to the nation’s economic competitiveness and security. The Indiana University Cybersecurity Scholarship Program (IUCSP) will provide 16 diverse students a novel cybersecurity educational program that combines Indiana University’s (IU) interdisciplinary academic curriculum with real-world internship experiences. To ensure diversity, IUCSP will engage in active recruitment and outreach through an array of initiatives. These initiatives include cybersecurity summer camps hosted by IU’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, existing partnerships with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, and collaboration with IU’s Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs, the Black Student Union, the IU-Minority Serving Institutions STEM Initiative, and the Center of Excellence for Women in Technology. The combination of strong academic preparation with applied experience, via the IU Cybersecurity Clinic, will produce cybersecurity leaders uniquely situated to strengthen the U.S. government workforce, national security needs, and critical infrastructure protection.IU is a designated National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense in both Education and Research. The proposed IUCSP will produce a pipeline of students holding undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees from one of IU’s academic degree offerings: a bachelor’s in Computer Science, a doctorate in Computer Science, a master’s in Secure Computing, or an interdisciplinary master’s in Cybersecurity Risk Management. This project will determine the efficacy of the IUCSP components, which include recruitment and outreach at major cybersecurity conventions, educational programming as part of the IU Cybersecurity Clinic, summer internships with government organizations, dedicated mentoring, and involvement in workshops and other activities that will ensure IU’s programs continue to be state-of-the-art. Degrees will be coupled with real-world experience from several established, IU-led cybersecurity organizations, as follows. The Omni Security Operations Center helps higher education institutions reduce the impact of cybersecurity threats through a joint Security Operations Center collaboration. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Cybersecurity Center of Excellence leads other NSF-funded research organizations in addressing cybersecurity challenges. The Research and Education Network Information Sharing and Coordination Center serves over 620 member institutions within the higher education and research community by promoting cybersecurity operational protections and response. The IU Cybersecurity Clinic pairs students with Indiana-based organizations to tackle real-world organizational cybersecurity challenges. In addition, students will benefit from IU’s own cybersecurity operations team, which protects 100,000+ students and employees. This project is supported by the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, which funds proposals establishing or continuing scholarship programs in cybersecurity and aligns with the U.S. National Cyber Strategy to develop a superior cybersecurity workforce. Following graduation, scholarship recipients are required to work in cybersecurity for a federal, state, local, or tribal Government organization for the same duration as their scholarship support.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.