CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service - A Continuation Program at Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS

Investigators

Abstract

Mississippi State University (MSU), one of the sixteen National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, proposes to continue and expand its participation in the CyberCorps(R) Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to prepare highly-qualified cybersecurity professionals for entry into the government workforce. The project will support community college students at the East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) through early mentoring and advising activities before their transfer to MSU. The project will have an immediate impact on the information assurance and forensics capabilities of the federal workforce by developing well-trained cybersecurity professionals. MSU continues a strong working relationship with several universities, two-year colleges and the law enforcement community. They have partnered with several HBCUs including Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, and Tuskegee University, as well as other schools, such as the University of South Alabama, the University of Texas at Tyler, and Saint Cloud State University. This project will continue mentoring to ensure that more schools build cybersecurity programs. Within the State of Mississippi, SFS students help with cybersecurity product evaluation, give internet safety talks within secondary school systems, and help with GenCyber summer camps. In addition, MSU increases female participation in cybersecurity by organizing a 10-week Research Experience on cybersecurity topics, conducted between freshman and sophomore years of college, followed by summer internships with government agencies. MSU leverages their extensive operational experience and program maturity to graduate SFS students for the government at a rate of approximately 10 SFS students a year. The program will continue to benefit from substantial research efforts as each SFS student is required to participate in a Research Experience and to publish in peer-reviewed outlets. More than seventy peer-reviewed publications have been published by undergraduate and graduate SFS students at MSU. Seventeen faculty members from three MSU colleges are affiliated with four cybersecurity research centers. The project's cybersecurity curriculum is woven into an overall degree requirements. Coverage of cybersecurity topics is in the context of specific courses such as database, programming, or operating systems as well as a capstone projects and discovery learning in the lab. Students are selected from several degree programs including Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Management Information Systems. All students must take courses in Information and Computer Security including a lab with a strong emphasis on penetration testing techniques; Digital and Computer Forensics focusing on computer crime and the study of evidence for solving such crimes; and Cryptography and Network Security with a strong emphasis on network protocol vulnerabilities. SFS students practice in computer security laboratories, SCADA security laboratories, and in an isolated lab to complete an intensive, team-oriented capture the flag contest at the end of the semester.