CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (Renewal): Partnership in Securing Cyberspace through Education and Service (PISCES)

The need to develop high-expertise graduates for the US government's cybersecurity workforce is critical to the nation’s security and prosperity. The George Washington University (GW) is a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R), designated by the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) program with over twenty years of experience training CyberCorps students for government employment. This renewal project, entitled the GW PISCES program, aims to recruit and place highly trained cybersecurity professionals into the public service. The project will support scholarships for students as well as expand opportunities for cybersecurity students beyond those directly supported by scholarships. The scholars will be equipped with knowledge of cybersecurity mechanisms, tools, policies, and available resources before entering the federal workforce. This project will be built on the successful and solid foundation established by PISCES over the past two decades. The project will train four cohorts of students for employment in the cybersecurity mission of the federal government. The key enabler is an interdisciplinary approach to cybersecurity education, which will provide students with hands-on experiences, personal connections, and an understanding of the cybersecurity landscape in the federal government. The project’s goals include: (1) enhancing interdisciplinary education by collaborating with initiatives focused on trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing; (2) increasing research opportunities available to SFS students through partnerships with the cybersecurity labs and research groups on the GW campus; (3) making portions of the exclusive SFS Seminar Course available to broader range of students to raise awareness of cybersecurity careers in government through invited talks and recruiting events; (4) enlarging the pool of prospective students by promoting a new bridge-to-cyber program to attract students from non-technical backgrounds to pursue degrees in cybersecurity. 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.