This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund 120 annual scholarships to approximately 40 students pursuing B.S. degrees in Computer and Information Sciences with specialization in Cybersecurity. First-year students will receive up to four-years of scholarship support. Students who become eligible upon deciding to pursue a major or an Area of Emphasis in Cybersecurity after the first year will receive two or three years of scholarship support. Cybersecurity is of critical importance to the U.S. economy, public safety, national security, and the nation's critical infrastructure. This project will address the high demand for cybersecurity professionals by recruiting academically talented students with demonstrated financial need and providing them with the resources necessary to succeed in their undergraduate education and become globally competitive cybersecurity experts. Furthermore, the project aims to broaden the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in the Cybersecurity area. This project is expected to provide a significant contribution to the emerging knowledge-base of Cybersecurity education, including strategies that may be implemented by other institutions.
The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specifically, this project aims to address the governmental and industry need for highly skilled cybersecurity experts. It has the following goals: (1) increase the annual enrollment of undergraduate students with specialization in Cybersecurity; (2) enhance curricular and extra-curricular student support services and activities for students; (3) strengthen partnerships with computer and information technology employers; and (4) investigate the impact of the curricular and co-curricular activities on student success. Though significant research has been done for other STEM fields, cybersecurity is a new field of study and factors affecting student recruitment, academic success, retention, and persistence to graduation within this field are not yet known. The project research questions are focused on (1) measures of student success; (2) discovering which aspects of the project are most impactful for students; (3) identifying student strategies for overcoming academic challenges; and (4) the impact of the program on students in terms of academic motivation, grit, outcome expectations of students, and retention. Measures of student success and persistence will be collected and analyzed against a comparison group to determine if the specific student engagement interventions make a significant difference in student success, retention, and persistence to graduation. The project will be evaluated using a mixed methods approach using information from student records, surveys, and student feedback. Results of this project will be made available through relevant web media, peer-reviewed publications, and presentations in regional and national STEM communities. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.
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.
