UC joins national CyberCorps to defend America’s cyberspace
$4 million National Science Foundation award clears way for scholarships for 25 UC students
The University of Cincinnati received a $4 million award from the National Science Foundation to establish a CybersCorps Scholarship for Service program. One of six universities funded, UC’s new Bearcats Cyber Scholar Incubator will fund 25 students to complete their undergraduate or graduate degrees in cybersecurity.
UC students took part in a Capture The Flag event at the Annual IT Expo at UC in 2019.
The NSF-funded program is a unique, full scholarship and living stipend program that supports students for up to three years while they are completing their degree in cybersecurity. As part of scholarship, student recipients agree to work in cybersecurity jobs for federal, state, local or tribal governments after graduation.
“The goal of the project is to prepare highly skilled cybersecurity scholars for government jobs that address the cybersecurity workforce shortage,” says Chengcheng Li, PhD, director of the UC Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.
For the NSF, an additional investment of more than $21 million over five years in the six universities is an investment into a more secure nation.
A look inside core switches inside a supercomputer. Photo/Courtesy NSF
"Every day, we see headlines that underscore the urgency of ensuring an adequately sized and well-trained cybersecurity workforce in the United States, particularly in government agencies," says Kim Barrett, director of NSF's Division of Graduate Education. "These diverse universities have each proposed innovative approaches to cybersecurity education and professional development that not only will support students selected for scholarships, but also increase the vitality of cybersecurity preparedness for the nation."
With the latest round of NSF funding, UC joins 78 other universities designated as CyberCorps Scholarship for Service universities along with Augusta University, Michigan Technological University, Old Dominion University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Rhode Island.
UC is also one of two of the new universities designated as a Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, a highly selective group of higher education programs that includes only 22 universities.
Every day, we see headlines that underscore the urgency of ensuring an adequately sized and well-trained cybersecurity workforce in the United States, particularly in government agencies.
Kim Barrett, director of NSF's Division of Graduate Education
A team of UC undergraduate seniors presented their capstone project on securing "home internet of things" (IoT) to industry and the community during the 2019 annual IT Expo.
The Bearcats Cyber Scholar Incubator is a collaborative, multidepartmental team of faculty leaders including Chengcheng Li, Rebekah Michael and Hazem Said from UC's School of Information Technology of the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services; Marty Emmert and Marc Cahay from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the College of Engineering and Applied Science; and Richard Harknett from the Department of Political Science of the College of Arts and Sciences.
It builds on the collaboration’s past successes in the area of cybersecurity including the NSA-designated Center for Cyber Operations, the NSA/DHS-designated Center for Cyber Defense, the Ohio Cyber Range Institute, Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust and the Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy.
In addition, the project builds on the UC’s Early IT ecosystem where a network of high school districts, community colleges and industry are partnering with UC to make attaining a college degree accessible to all. As the director of the UC Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, Li continues his leadership of national cybersecurity education projects including the National Security Agency and the National Science Foundation programs for high school teachers and students as well as veterans.
Featured image at top: A view between two rows of supercomputer servers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center data center. Photo/Courtesy NSF
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