Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service

The Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program seeks to increase the number of qualified students entering the fields of information assurance and computer security and to increase the capacity of the United States higher education enterprise to continue to produce professionals in these fields to meet the needs of our increasingly technological society. The SFS program is composed of two tracks:The Scholarship Track provides funding to colleges and universities to award scholarships to students in the information assurance and computer security fields. Scholarship recipients shall pursue academic programs in information assurance for the final two years of undergraduate study, or for two years of master's-level study, or for the final two years of Ph.D.-level study. These students will participate as a cohort during their two years of study and activities, including a summer internship in the Federal Government. The recipients of the scholarships will become part of the Federal Cyber Service of Information Technology Specialists whose responsibility is to ensure the protection of the United States Government's information infrastructure. Upon graduation, after their two-year scholarships, recipients will be required to work for two years in the Federal Government. A limited number of students may be placed in National Laboratories and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). This number shall be set by the program office each year. (See http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies.shtml for a list of Federal organizations, see http://www.science.doe.gov/National_Laboratories/ for a list of National Laboratories, see http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdc/ for a list of FFRDCs.)The Capacity Building Track provides funds to colleges and universities to improve the quality and increase the production of information assurance and computer security professionals. Professional development of information assurance faculty and development of academic programs can be funded under this track, as well as projects to increase interest in information assurance and accelerate the integration of information assurance, computer security or cyber security knowledge across the STEM disciplines.