CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: Building the Next Generation Cybersecurity Engineering Workforce

Cybersecurity threats are the most significant challenge to information technology infrastructure in the digital age. The ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in Spring 2021 is just one example that highlights the urgent need for a well-trained cybersecurity workforce. The CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) project at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) will provide diverse students with an educational experience that combines an interdisciplinary academic curriculum with real-world cybersecurity research and internship experiences.

In addition, the project will promote diversity in the cybersecurity workforce by leveraging a variety of ongoing initiatives and interest groups at the university, and by partnering with a local community college in recruitment efforts targeting groups who remain underrepresented in the cybersecurity field. The combination of vital academic preparation with applied cybersecurity engineering experience will produce next-generation cybersecurity engineers uniquely situated to strengthen the U.S. government workforce's ability to respond to national security needs and protect its critical infrastructure.

Over the past two years, IUPUI has built two new innovative degree programs based on existing strengths in computer and information technology and engineering, leading to a B.S. in Cybersecurity and a M.S. in Cybersecurity and Trusted Systems. Both programs are the first in the Indianapolis metropolitan region. The SFS project at IUPUI will provide 22 diverse students pursuing the B.S., M.S., or an accelerated B.S./M.S. program with access to a broad curriculum in cybersecurity, synergistic co-curricular activities, cohort-based mentorship, and internship experiences.

The program will engage in active recruitment and outreach that promotes diversity through an array of ongoing initiatives at IUPUI, including: 1) an NSF REU Site on Enhancing Undergraduate Experiences in Mobile Cloud and Data Security; 2) an NSF S-STEM Urban STEM Collaboratory project; 3) an NSF Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) initiative called STARS Computing Corps; 4) other existing cybersecurity research and education projects; 5) a collaboration with Purdue University’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) and Indiana University’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR); and 6) an existing partnerships with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. The program will also collaborate with IUPUI’s Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Black Student Union, the IU-Minority Serving Institutions STEM Initiative; and the Center of Excellence for Women in Technology.

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.