CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Cross Disciplinary Cybersecurity Education for a Modern Workforce

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project supports the continuation of the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst). This program leverages the University's advanced programs to achieve its main objective of educating and training cybersecurity researchers and professionals for service career placement. It will support undergraduate and graduate level scholars, primarily from Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering. The program aims to foster successful cohorts through strong peer-mentoring, faculty advising, and academic and professional support. By educating cybersecurity scholars across disciplines, this program will help create a new generation of professionals and researchers to address novel and challenging problems facing society and industry. These students will help to modernize the Executive-branch workforce, advance science and technology at government laboratories, and secure our national defense. The program will prepare students for successful careers in cybersecurity through a combination of strong curricula, personalized professional development, interdisciplinary enrichment, unique research opportunities, and high-quality teaching. The program will continue to actively recruit and retain highly qualified students into UMass Amherst’s undergraduate and graduate programs as a primary objective. The program includes faculty and staff external to UMass Amherst to create a pipeline of students from other institutions, including Bunker Hill Community College, Holyoke Community College, and Springfield Technical Community College, as well as Brookdale Community College, which is a National Science Foundation Community College Cyber Pilot site. The program also includes a partnership with the Collaborative for Educational Services, a Massachusetts-based non-profit that recruits high school students for STEM careers, particularly low-income students. 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.