CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service at Towson University

Towson University, Towson MD

Investigators

Abstract

Towson University (TU), 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 provide scholarships to increase cybersecurity awareness among all students by offering immersive experiential cybersecurity activities outside the classroom. To date, the SFS program at TU has provided scholarships to twenty-six students with a 100% success rate with internship and postgraduate placement of the SFS students. The project will have an immediate impact on the information assurance and forensics capabilities of the Federal workforce by developing cybersecurity professionals with strong technical skills. It will also establish and assess a pathway in cybersecurity education with the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) to support community college students through early mentoring and advising. The project will develop out-of-classroom cybersecurity opportunities to generate interest among broader student populations in the cybersecurity field. SFS students are enrolled in an undergraduate Computer Science degree with a specialized Security Track which is accredited by ABET. In addition to the theoretical and mathematical foundation, students take courses in programming, cryptography, network security, software security, reverse engineering and malware analysis. In a capstone course, Case Studies in Computer Security, students are divided into teams to build progressively more sophisticated business networks. During live fire exercises, each team attempts to defend their network while trying to attack the networks of other teams. 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.