CyberCorps Scholarship for Service: CyberRamblers Bolster National Security

Cybersecurity is critical to all aspects of modern life, from energy, commerce, finance, education, and healthcare to manufacturing and agriculture. Well-trained cybersecurity professionals serving in the government workforce are critical to national security. This project will establish the CyberRamblers – Loyola University Chicago CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service program to improve the United States' national security.

Scholars will be trained in technical knowledge from Computer Science and Cybersecurity, and social and behavioral knowledge of cybercrime from Psychology, and Criminal Justice and Criminology. This leads to scholars receiving a well-rounded cybersecurity education and training. Four cohorts of undergraduate students majoring in the B.S. for Cybersecurity program will be recruited for a total of 20 students over five years.

The student recruitment process emphasizes recruiting and retaining members of underrepresented and underserved groups. The outcome of this project will be a well-prepared cohort of cybersecurity professionals and leaders ready to meet the nation’s cybersecurity workforce needs.

The project will build on the existing interdisciplinary cybersecurity program to recruit students from Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Psychology, and Criminal Justice and Criminology. Each CyberRambler scholar will receive two years of scholarship support and advising and mentoring support to ensure adequate progress toward graduation and successful job placement.

Scholars will be involved in interdisciplinary research and education and receive training to develop the critical thinking, independence, teamwork, and technical knowledge required in a cybersecurity career. These scholarships for service will provide the necessary hands-on training and education for scholars to start a successful cybersecurity career as part of the government workforce.

To ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the program, comprehensive formative and summative evaluation mechanisms will be used to assess the progress and achievements of the student scholars. These will specifically focus on scholars’ skill development, knowledge acquisition, and readiness to meet the nation's cybersecurity workforce needs.

This project aims to create cybersecurity professionals who will positively impact national security and meet the evolving challenges of the cyber landscape through strategic recruitment, interdisciplinary cybersecurity-focused curriculum, rigorous evaluation, and government partnerships.

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.