CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal) - Preparing Scholars for a Career in the Government’s Cybersecurity Workforce

Cybersecurity is increasingly important to society, whether for national defense or for the protection of citizens as they take advantage of today's digital world to maintain their jobs, health and prosperity. Unfortunately, there are many actors ready to steal personal identities, illegally take intellectual property from U.S. companies, and even to make life difficult by interfering with energy supply chains or poisoning water resources.

To ensure safety, steps are needed to make certain that there are enough superior cybersecurity experts in the government to guard against such growing threats. By way of this renewal, Marymount University will continue to recruit, educate, and place in government service, a group of excellent students from cybersecurity programs, including programs at community colleges.

The grant will support their academic success and readiness for their placement in government service. They will be provided a full scholarship as well as a first-class educational experience (earning a BS, MS, or DSc in Cybersecurity). The program will expand their knowledge, skills, and abilities in cybersecurity so that they can protect all of society as the use of technology continues to grow.

This project builds on the success and experience of the previously funded SFS project and will be guided by five objectives. First, is to continue to recruit a well-qualified group of students at all levels. Second is to ensure the highest levels of development of the students for government work.

Third is to retain and graduate all students with a minimum GPA of 3.5 and facilitate 100% placement in government positions. Fourth is to develop professionals capable of designing, building, and managing secure information systems for the connected world. Finally, it is to evaluate the extent to which enhanced student-faculty interactions, mentoring, community outreach, and joint involvement in research contributes to positive workplace outcomes in the field of cybersecurity.

Marymount has increased the effectiveness and sustainability of its programs by implementing an agile curriculum process to keep pace with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing. These curriculum changes are informed by workforce studies including a detailed understanding of the federal government needs, and by alliances with larger public institutions for research and resources.

Marymount has a track record of successfully placing graduates in government cybersecurity positions. The project will continue to produce a pool of graduates prepared to combat the security threats of today and tomorrow.

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.