CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Preparing Cross-disciplinary Cybersecurity and Policy Professionals

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This renewal continues the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) project at Georgetown University. The funding will support approximately 33 students who work in technology or policy or at the intersection of the two areas. Students will be drawn from various degree programs at Georgetown, including Computer Science, Security Students, and Cybersecurity Risk Management. The project aims to recruit students who would otherwise work in the private sector into Federal government positions that require a high level of analytical thinking and decision making. These roles are essential for oversight, research, analysis, and planning. The project team will continue to build off prior success in attracting students to government service who are from groups that are underrepresented in the cybersecurity field. For example, more than half of the student cohorts to date have been female. In addition, the principal investigators have attracted applications from high school students who are members of groups whose participation in the field lags behind their proportion in the overall population, by developing and offering a STEM track for students in Georgetown’s Summer College Immersion Program (SCIP) and funding participant support. SCIP is a three-week college preparation program designed for rising high school seniors from the Cristo Rey Network and KIPP Foundation school systems which predominately serve underprivileged communities.Students complement their high-quality education with applied experiences in the Washington DC area in the Georgetown SFS project. Students participate in internships at government agencies and meet with cybersecurity and governmental leaders at local events. The project's activities also include significant peer-mentoring, helping to form cross-agency professional networks. Students benefit from working with faculty who have expertise in cybersecurity that spans deep technical areas ranging from artificial intelligence to legal and policy issues surrounding cyber operations and personal privacy. The project also expands awareness of governmental positions for all Georgetown students by working with the Cawley Career Center to bring in governmental speakers and recruiters. These combined efforts will help create a generation of policymakers and managers who can help develop and expand the nation’s cybersecurity challenges by educating cross-disciplinary cybersecurity leaders.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.