FICS Research is thrilled to announce that its faculty have been chosen to receive the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) grant. Offered by the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management and funded through the National Science Foundation, the grant seeks to address the critical shortage of and national demand for cyber-security professionals employed in the public sector by increasing access to higher education and training, along with facilitating job placement.
The grant provides monetary support in the form of scholarships, covering full tuition and providing stipends, to domestic students pursuing doctoral degrees specializing in cyber-security who are interested in working for federal, state or local government agencies and/or organizations after graduation. As the name implies, the program requires that students ‘pay-back’ the scholarship with service, that is a commitment to work for a government agency (such as the FBI, CIA, DOD, state universities or county school systems, etc.) for the same amount of years they accepted the program’s scholarship.Participants will also be provided with direct avenues for internships, pre and post-graduation, as well as job placement upon graduation.
In the winning proposal, which is actually a joint effort between the University of Florida (UF) and Florida International University (FIU), the program was entitled SURPASS: A Unique Scholarship Program in Hardware and Systems Security. “UF and FIU are uniquely qualified to offer this scholarship program in hardware and systems security (HSS) because of their curricular efforts, strong research programs, faculty strength, as well as unique lab facilities, which will help deliver an exemplary program in the nation. Both universities serve diverse student populations, have strong internationally-recognized hardware and systems security research programs, and extensive curricular offerings in cyber-security.” (Dr. Bhunia).
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Allison Logan
Marketing & Communications Specialist
Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering