CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: Developing the Next-generation Cyber Workforce

The risk and cost of cyber-attacks on our national assets and critical infrastructure continue to rise with increasing complexity and connectivity in computing environments. There is a demand to cultivate cybersecurity professionals who can fill the workforce gap. This new SFS program at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at Washington State University will educate and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals for federal, state, local, and tribal government positions. The project will leverage a B.S. in Cybersecurity program at multiple campuses of the WSU system. Participants will get comprehensive, hands-on training in security across the complete spectrum of computing (hardware, systems, software, and web) and learn how emerging artificial intelligence and cryptography concepts can build more resilient cyber systems. The project will train a cohort of undergraduate and graduate students over five-years and provide cybersecurity education, research and experiential learning opportunities, curricular innovation, and career mentoring. The project will emphasize training in six interrelated themes: (1) software supply chain, (2) cyber-physical systems, (3) artificial intelligence and security, (4) cryptography and post-quantum security, (5) hardware security, and (6) web security. The curricular and learning innovations will benefit SFS scholars, students, and faculty mentors. Collaborations with internal entities at WSU will help to increasing participation in computing. The multi-campus innovation opportunities will extend to community colleges and open up government career opportunities to new pools of potential applicants. 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.