CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: Preparing Future Cybersecurity Professionals with Data Science Expertise

随着越来越复杂和多样的网络攻击变得普遍，训练有素和敏捷的网络安全专业人员进入行业和政府职位至关重要。这些专业人员应该善于分析由现代计算系统产生的大量数据，以便以必要的规模和速度进行处理，以识别新的攻击。福特汉姆大学的CyberCorps(R)服务奖学金（SFS）项目将通过提供奖学金来教育在数据科学方法和工具方面受过培训的新型网络安全专业人员，从而帮助解决这些劳动力需求。福特汉姆SFS受助人将获得网络安全硕士学位，主修数据科学或网络安全数据科学高级证书。该项目将为学生提供全面的网络安全教育，包括对政府职位至关重要的技术和道德部分。项目团队将利用最近授予福特汉姆大学的奖项，专注于增加多样性，包括GenCyber和国家安全局网络安全教育多样性倡议奖。项目团队的这些和其他努力旨在增加迄今为止在网络安全劳动力中代表性不足的群体的参与。福特汉姆大学与众多政府机构的合作、其小班教学以及参与研究和推广活动（如网络防御竞赛）的众多机会，将有助于激发新的网络安全人员在政府服务领域的职业生涯。学生可以选择网络运营或网络安全课程的政策/法律/管理方向。数据科学课程将为学生提供操作、分析和可视化大型复杂数据集所需的编程技能、工具和经验。以学生为中心的课程利用了传统网络安全和数据科学课程之间的协同作用，将使网络安全专业人员做好充分准备，以应对我国信息系统和数据基础设施不断变化的网络安全威胁。该项目由网络军团(R)服务奖学金（SFS）项目支持，该项目资助建立或继续网络安全奖学金项目的提案，并与美国国家网络战略保持一致，以培养一支优秀的网络安全劳动力队伍。毕业后，奖学金获得者必须在联邦、州、地方或部落政府组织的网络安全部门工作，工作时间与奖学金支持时间相同。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As increasingly sophisticated and varied cyberattacks become common, it is crucial that well-trained and agile cybersecurity professionals enter industry and government positions. These professionals should be adept at analyzing the enormous amounts of data generated by modern computing systems to facilitate processing at the scale and rates necessary to identify new attacks. The CyberCorps(R) Scholarship for Service (SFS) project at Fordham University will help address these workforce needs by providing scholarships to educate a new breed of cybersecurity professionals trained in data science methods and tools. Fordham SFS recipients will earn an M.S. in Cybersecurity with either a concentration in Data Science or an Advanced Certificate in Data Science for Cybersecurity. The program will afford students a well-rounded cybersecurity education, including its technical and ethical components, which are vital for government positions. The project team will leverage recent awards made to Fordham focused on increasing diversity, including GenCyber and National Security Agency Cybersecurity Education Diversity Initiative awards. These and other efforts by the project team aim to increase the participation of groups who have thus far remained underrepresented in the cybersecurity workforce.The goal of inspiring new cybersecurity personnel towards a career in government service will benefit from Fordham’s collaboration with numerous government agencies, its small class sizes, and numerous opportunities to participate in research and outreach activities, such as cyber-defense competitions. Students will have the option of pursuing a cyber-operations or a policy/law/management track for the cybersecurity coursework. Data science coursework will provide students with the programming skills, tools, and experience required to manipulate, analyze, and visualize large and complex datasets. The student-centered curriculum that leverages the synergies between the traditional cybersecurity and data science curricula will result in cybersecurity professionals who are well-prepared to meet evolving cybersecurity threats to our nation’s information systems and data infrastructure. This project is supported by the CyberCorps(R) 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.