This project seeks to establish a new CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) to prepare 24 highly-qualified cybersecurity professionals for entry into the federal, state, local, or tribal government workforce. The program will be regionally focused, seeking to draw students from the local ecosystem and place them in local jobs, and will be built on an existing, strong cybersecurity research and educational program at UHM. Currently, there is no SFS program in the state of Hawaii, a state with a large presence of government and military agencies, and a severe shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The proposed program will provide multiple career paths for students within the state. The SFS team will collaborate with all 10 UH campuses, local community colleges, and K-12 institutions. UHM faculty will continue joint efforts with the National Security Agency (NSA) Hawaii, the US Coast Guard, the Hawaii National Guard, and the US Pacific Command (PACOM) through activities such as the UH Cyber Security Education Summit, NSA Hawaii Education Fairs, and Hawaii GenCyber Camps. The team will work with the Native Hawaiian Science and Engineering Mentorship Program (NHSEMP) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to recruit minority and women students. The project will develop an SFS community that emphasizes individual mentorship across the entire academic experience at UHM, including career development, research advising, as well as the job placement. The SFS Situation Room will be set up for SFS scholars to stimulate interaction with faculty and other student groups, and to organize various learning activities. The proposed program will offer individual mentorship; involve students in security research in collaboration with government and industry to gain practical experience; provide customized study plans; facilitate internship opportunities; and help develop students' career plans.
The Adaptive Security and Economics Laboratory serves to bond the team together in various cybersecurity research and educational activities. The center and the university are designated as a DHS/NSA Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research. UHM is a Research I University and supports advanced security research on many critical topics including: cryptography, network security, privacy, big data security, IoT security, mobile and wireless security, smart grid security, cloud security, computer software and web security, and hardware security. UHM has a comprehensive cybersecurity curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including 14 cybersecurity courses and two bachelor's degree programs with a Security Science Focus. The students have been participating in national and state level cybersecurity activities, including the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC), National Maritime Cybersecurity Exercise, Annual Pooihe Cyber Defense exercise, GenCyber, and Cyber Patriot. The team has long term collaborations with government agencies such as NSA Hawaii, US Coast Guard, Hawaii National Guard and PACOM. The team will build a dedicated management framework with associated tools to support project evaluation.
