The University of Idaho (UI) proposes to add four new cohorts of undergraduate and graduate students to their existing CyberCorps(R) Scholarship for Service (SFS) program in cybersecurity with strong background in cyber defense; forensics and situational awareness; secure and resilient architectures, networks, and systems; and security of embedded, industrial, and power control systems and devices. The project will have an immediate impact on the information assurance and forensics capabilities of the federal workforce by providing graduates with general computing and security skills. Both public and private organizations developing and maintaining information and operational technology, or real-time control systems, are in urgent need of graduates with a strong cybersecurity background. The graduates from the UI's SFS program increase the security and resiliency of federal, state, tribal, and territorial governments' security systems. The program has a holistic educational approach with strong computational foundations and hands-on experiences; and the interdisciplinary nature of the program aids in attracting women and minorities to the cybersecurity profession.
The program is graduating skilled information assurance and forensics professionals with strong leadership skills and a commitment to public service. The students will serve as summer interns to gain practical experience and will join federal agencies or other eligible entities upon graduation. Graduates from the UI's SFS program have a foundational knowledge strongly rooted in mathematics and scientific theory, a practical skillset learned through hands-on laboratories, and a research-oriented innovative approach to problem solving. They will also develop the presentation, communication, and management skills necessary to be effective in the federal workforce. This enables them to design, develop, and maintain secure and resilient computing systems critical to the government, digital economy, and national security. By grouping students from multiple disciplines into the same labs and seminars the program provides a diversity and synergy that enables participants to appreciate the multifaceted aspects of cybersecurity, including perspectives from software, hardware, and management. The SFS scholars have hands-on laboratory experiences with a variety of network configurations including reconfigurable attack-defend scenarios, real-time embedded systems, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.
