SFS: A Cybersecurity Educational Partnership for the Government Workforce

美国所依赖的计算和通信基础设施一次又一次地被证明容易受到攻击、破坏、渗透和颠覆。其结果是对训练有素的网络安全专业人员的需求迅速增长，特别是在政府部门。为了满足这一需求，该项目将为追求网络安全专业化的学生提供两年的奖学金支持。将特别注意招募女性、退伍军人、少数民族和第一代大学生。北卡罗来纳州州立大学计划与北卡罗来纳州的社区大学合作，帮助招收多元化的学生群体。 将开发一个招聘渠道，包括社区学院和K-12外展。学生将接受技术上深入的教育，这将是在政府职能，优先事项和资源的背景下良好的基础。此外，该项目的影响将扩大到奖学金获得者与建立一个新的本科网络安全集中和现有的研究生网络安全轨道的增强。北卡罗来纳州州立大学被指定为国土安全部和国家安全局网络防御研究学术卓越中心。每年将选出四名本科生和一名硕士生提供支持。将作出重大努力，招收优秀学生，并确保所招收班级的多样性。将与一所或多所社区学院建立伙伴关系，以扩大潜在学生的人数。新课程将被添加到课程中，包括顶点网络安全项目课程和网络安全最新主题课程。该项目还将支持为本科生开发一个新的网络安全专业，每年至少有25名学生毕业。该项目将受益于与行业和政府雇主的特别紧密的联系。网络安全专业人员将被招募为兼职讲师，这将为课程带来重要的行业视角。学生将在培训期间与政府雇主进行实习，并将参加各种相关的补充经验，包括专业认证，研究项目，国家网络安全竞赛，演讲嘉宾系列，前往国家会议和K-12外展。计算机科学系将支持毕业生在政府职位上的安置，并将与政府雇主举办年度招聘会。网络安全教育总监将协调该项目，外部团队将持续评估该方法的有效性。该项目由CyberCorps®服务奖学金（SFS）计划提供支持，该计划为建立或继续网络安全奖学金计划的提案提供资金，并与美国国家网络战略保持一致，以培养一支上级网络安全人才队伍。毕业后，奖学金获得者需要在联邦，州，地方或部落政府组织的网络安全工作与他们的奖学金支持相同的时间。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The computing and communications infrastructure upon which the United States relies has been shown again and again to be vulnerable to attack, disruption, infiltration, and subversion. The result is a very rapid growth in the need for trained cybersecurity professionals, particularly in government. To address this need, this project will provide two years of scholarship support to students pursuing a specialization in cybersecurity. Specific attention will be given to the recruitment of females, veterans, minorities, and first-generation college students. North Carolina State University plans to partner with community colleges in North Carolina to aid in the recruitment of a diverse group of students. A recruiting pipeline will be developed and include community colleges and K-12 outreach. Students will receive a technically deep education that will be well-grounded in the context of government functions, priorities, and resources. In addition, the impact of the project will extend beyond the scholarship recipients with the establishment of a new undergraduate Cybersecurity Concentration and enhancement of the existing graduate Cybersecurity Track.North Carolina State University is designated as a Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research. Each year four undergraduate students and one master’s degree student will be selected for support. Significant efforts will be made to recruit outstanding students and to ensure diversity in the recruited class. A partnership with one or more community colleges will be established to expand the pool of potential students. New courses will be added to the curriculum, including a capstone Cybersecurity Project course and a course on Recent Topics in Cybersecurity. The project will also support the development of a new concentration in cybersecurity for undergraduate students that will graduate at least 25 students per year. The project will benefit from exceptionally strong ties with industry and government employers. Cybersecurity professionals will be recruited as adjunct instructors, which will bring an important industry perspective to the coursework. Students will engage in an internship with a government employer during their training and will participate in a variety of related supplemental experiences, including professional certifications, research projects, national cybersecurity competitions, a guest speaker series, travel to national meetings, and K-12 outreach. The Department of Computer Science will support the placement of graduates in government positions and will host an annual job fair with government employers. The Cybersecurity Education Director will coordinate the project and an external team will continually assess the effectiveness of the approach.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.