CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Training the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Professionals

University Of Tulsa, Tulsa OK

Investigators

Abstract

The United States needs highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to secure the cyberspace that envelops modern society. The shortage of elite cyber professionals is especially problematic in federal, state, and local government organizations that serve the American people. This NSF CyberCorps® project seeks to prepare scientists, engineers, and attorneys to make tangible cyber-defense and cyber-operations contributions in the public sector that will benefit society. Funding for this project will add four additional cohorts of undergraduate and graduate students to an existing CyberCorps® project at the awardee institution (University of Tulsa). The project's components, including academic, research, outreach, internships, professional development, and service activities, are designed to have broad and lasting impacts. The project team will also strengthen and expand efforts to engage non-traditional students and veterans, and make arrangements to accommodate community college graduates. Tulsa Cyber Corps students will collaborate on real-world projects with embedded agency personnel to gain practical experience and enhance internship and job placement. Sustained student mentoring and involvement in service learning and outreach activities will strengthen student motivation and leadership skills, promoting career advancement and retention in the public sector. The project offers multiple technical and interdisciplinary tracks, each characterized by a focused yet flexible program of study. The “MacGyver Track” imparts cyber-operations skills geared toward the intelligence community. Other tracks prepare students for research and operations. The interdisciplinary J.D. Track combines law classes with six systems and cyber-defense and cyber-operations courses. The novelty of the Tulsa program stems from its application of the “Teaching Hospital” paradigm to prepare students to enter and thrive in the public sector. The paradigm integrates highly specialized cyber-defense and cyber-operations courses, hands-on learning, research and capstone projects, service learning, and outreach activities. Students gain unique expertise and make a difference by developing solutions to real problems in concert with embedded law enforcement and national security personnel and by helping secure critical infrastructure assets ranging from electric power grids and wind farms to aircraft and voting systems. 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.