The National Science Foundation announced this week that it has awarded CyberCorps Scholarship for Service grants to four public universities to support the training of more cybersecurity professionals for federal, state, local and tribal government positions.
The total investment of nearly $15 million is being made to Washington State University, Iowa State University, George Mason University and The Ohio State University in the form of five-year grants ranging in size from $3.5 million to almost $4 million.
“For nearly 25 years, the SFS program has been addressing the nation’s critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the field,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, as part of the announcement. “This next cohort, focusing on cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems security, next-generation wireless, cybersecurity for smart manufacturing and more, is poised to make significant contributions to our national and economic security. Their work will contribute to the success of this great program and further strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity landscape.”
The NSF CyberCorps SFS program provides full scholarships and stipends to both baccalaureate and graduate students. All scholarship recipients must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and work after graduation in a cybersecurity position at a government organization or other qualifying entity for a period equal to at least the length of their scholarship.
The award recipients are:
CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: Developing the Next-generation Cyber Workforce. This project will be administered by the the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University. It will train both undergraduate and graduate students, emphasizing training in six interrelated themes: (1) software supply chain, (2) cyber-physical systems, (3) artificial intelligence and security, (4) cryptography and post-quantum security, (5) hardware security, and (6) web security.
CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: Training Iowa’s Cyber Talents to Protect the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure at Iowa State University. This project will produce cybersecurity graduates from Iowa State’s B.S. and M.S. programs. Students will conduct research and real-world applications using state-of-the-art cybersecurity testbeds, gaining experience and expertise in artificial intelligence, network security, and cyber-physical systems.
CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: EAGLE: Empowering American Government Leadership in Cybersecurity through Education. This grant will be housed at George Mason University and focus on undergraduate and graduate research in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems security, secure cyber-physical systems and critical infrastructure, next-generation wireless networks, and cybersecurity for smart manufacturing.
CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: The New Buckeye Scholarship for Service Program. The Ohio State University will be the home of this grant, which will emphasize graduate training through the university’s accelerated BS+MS, MS, and PhD programs. The curriculum will cover both cybersecurity theories and applications in fields such as network security, system security, cryptography, and secure autonomous vehicles. Students will also conduct research on hardware, software, cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things devices and large-scale networks. It will also prepare doctoral graduates for positions in higher education.
The main goals of the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program are to:
- increase the number of cybersecurity candidates for government cybersecurity positions;
- improve the nation’s capacity for educating the cybersecurity workforce;
- employ CyberCorps graduates in the cybersecurity mission of the federal government; and
- strengthen partnerships between institutions of higher education and federal, state, local, and tribal governments.