CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Training the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Professionals

美国需要高技能的网络安全专业人员来保护笼罩着现代社会的网络空间。在为美国人民服务的联邦、州和地方政府机构中，精英网络专业人员的短缺尤其成问题。NSF CyberCorps®项目旨在培养科学家、工程师和律师为公共部门做出切实的网络防御和网络运营贡献，从而造福社会。该项目的资金将为获奖机构（塔尔萨大学）现有的CyberCorps®项目增加四组本科生和研究生。该项目的组成部分，包括学术、研究、推广、实习、专业发展和服务活动，旨在产生广泛和持久的影响。项目团队还将加强和扩大努力，吸引网络安全领域中代表性不足的群体成员、非传统学生和退伍军人；并为社区大学毕业生安排住宿。塔尔萨网络军团的学生将与嵌入式机构人员在现实世界的项目中合作，以获得实践经验，并加强实习和就业安排。持续的学生辅导和参与服务学习和外展活动将加强学生的积极性和领导技能，促进职业发展和在公共部门的保留。该项目提供多个技术和跨学科的轨道，每个轨道的特点是一个集中而灵活的学习计划。“麦吉弗轨道”传授面向情报机构的网络操作技能。其他课程为学生准备研究和运营。跨学科的法学博士课程将法律课程与六个系统以及网络防御和网络操作课程相结合。塔尔萨计划的新颖性源于其“教学医院”范式的应用，为学生进入公共部门做好准备。该模式整合了高度专业化的网络防御和网络运营课程、实践学习、研究和顶点项目、服务学习和拓展活动。学生获得独特的专业知识，并通过与嵌入式执法和国家安全人员合作开发解决实际问题的方案，并通过帮助确保从电网和风力发电场到飞机和投票系统等关键基础设施资产的安全，从而发挥作用。该项目由CyberCorps®服务奖学金（SFS）计划支持，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，以培养优秀的网络安全劳动力。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。

The United States needs highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to secure the cyberspace that envelops modern society. The shortage of elite cyber professionals is especially problematic in federal, state, and local government organizations that serve the American people. This NSF CyberCorps® project seeks to prepare scientists, engineers, and attorneys to make tangible cyber-defense and cyber-operations contributions in the public sector that will benefit society. Funding for this project will add four additional cohorts of undergraduate and graduate students to an existing CyberCorps® project at the awardee institution (University of Tulsa). The project's components, including academic, research, outreach, internships, professional development, and service activities, are designed to have broad and lasting impacts. The project team will also strengthen and expand efforts to engage members of groups that are underrepresented in their participation in the cybersecurity field, non-traditional students, and veterans; and make arrangements to accommodate community college graduates. Tulsa Cyber Corps students will collaborate on real-world projects with embedded agency personnel to gain practical experience and enhance internship and job placement. Sustained student mentoring and involvement in service learning and outreach activities will strengthen student motivation and leadership skills, promoting career advancement and retention in the public sector. The project offers multiple technical and interdisciplinary tracks, each characterized by a focused yet flexible program of study. The “MacGyver Track” imparts cyber-operations skills geared toward the intelligence community. Other tracks prepare students for research and operations. The interdisciplinary J.D. Track combines law classes with six systems and cyber-defense and cyber-operations courses. The novelty of the Tulsa program stems from its application of the “Teaching Hospital” paradigm to prepare students to enter and thrive in the public sector. The paradigm integrates highly specialized cyber-defense and cyber-operations courses, hands-on learning, research and capstone projects, service learning, and outreach activities. Students gain unique expertise and make a difference by developing solutions to real problems in concert with embedded law enforcement and national security personnel and by helping secure critical infrastructure assets ranging from electric power grids and wind farms to aircraft and voting systems. 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.