CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Defending the National Cyber Infrastructure

This project supports the continuation of the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at Florida State University (FSU). Renewal funding will support scholarships to undergraduate and graduate SFS scholars seeking combined Bachelor of Science/Master of Science or Master of Science degrees in cybersecurity. The project's components are designed to provide graduates with general computing and security skills that will directly impact the federal workforce's information assurance and forensics capabilities.

SFS scholars will have the opportunity to collaborate on real-world projects to gain practical experience and enhance internship and job placement prospects. In addition, the renewal project aims to strengthen efforts to engage non-traditional students.

The proposed project will address the current cybersecurity personnel gap through the following six objectives. First is to identify and recruit promising SFS scholars that have not had a history of engagement with the field of cybersecurity. Second is to improve retention through cohort class enrollments, dedicated teaching assistants, hands-on curricula, and interactions between the SFS scholars and existing academic support units.

Third is to identify internship, cutting-edge research (at the intersections of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and machine learning), leadership, and outreach opportunities for these SFS scholars. Fourth is to gather feedback from current SFS scholars to refine the scholarship project's offerings and curricula. Fifth is to use a system to endorse and place at least 70% of FSU SFS graduates in federal executive agencies, up to 20% of graduates in other agencies, and up to 10% of graduates in institutions that offer SFS scholarships.

Finally, the sixth objective is to disseminate educational findings and cybersecurity research through publications.

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.