CyberCorps SFS Renewal: Strengthening the National Cybersecurity Workforce

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The project will continue the CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at Kansas State University (KSU), building on a history of producing high-quality graduates that fill national, state, local, and tribal government demands for skilled cybersecurity personnel. Through a newly restructured and streamlined cybersecurity curriculum, students will receive a comprehensive education in cybersecurity theory, fundamentals, and the state of the art. This project will also result in a strategic plan for cybersecurity that includes research focus areas, measurable goals, and a plan to improve and evolve the program. As Kansas and the Midwest have a large under-served, mostly rural and first-generation student population, KSU's renewed CyberCorps® program will help broaden the participation of diverse and under-represented groups. KSU is uniquely situated to recruit: (1) veteran, active duty, and non-scholarship Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students through our proximity to, and established relationship with, the US Army’s Midwest Regional Network Enterprise Center at Fort Riley and the Kansas Air National Guard in Wichita; (2) first-generation college students from under-served rural areas and from Kansas designated Opportunity Zones, through our strong ties to rural schools and community colleges. This training and education program will result in a cybersecurity workforce that can readily adapt to new situations, technologies, and computing modalities.Under the umbrella of a university-wide Center for Information and Systems Assurance, CyberCorps® has been synergistic with KSU's National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Research (CAE-R) designation in attracting and retaining students interested in cybersecurity. The number of students enrolled in cybersecurity courses was 80-95% higher than the number of CyberCorps® scholarship recipients. The training and education program will include special interest areas in cybersecurity, hands-on experience with real-world cybersecurity problems through the multi-stakeholder Information Security Research and Education (INSuRE) project, and an annual goal and performance review system to tailor instruction and research involvement to the learning style of each student. KSU faculty provide CyberCorps® scholars with one-on-one mentoring and personalized research opportunities. Extra-curricular activities such as the Cyber Defense Club (CDC) promote self-study with small-group cybersecurity/system administration activities, as well as trips to regional and national competitions. The CDC competition team was instrumental in allowing KSU to host the annual Central Area Networking and Security Workshop (CANSec), a regional cybersecurity workshop and cyber defense competition, in 2018. Additional outreach includes a K-12 mentorship program, the annual Association of Computing Machinery Hour of Code for grade school students, YMCA daycare computer science lessons, cybersecurity competitions, and a "Retro Gaming Night" at the local Flint Hills Discovery Center museum.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.