Norwich gets $3.5 million NSF grant for cybersecurity scholarships

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Norwich gets $3.5 million NSF grant for cybersecurity scholarships

Tue, 08/28/2018 - 11:07am -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has received a $3.58 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of a “Scholarship for Service” program, in which student-recipients majoring in computer security and information assurance commit to work for the federal government following graduation.

A five-year grant to be disbursed from September 2018 – August 2023, this is a renewal of a scholarship program that Norwich has been involved in for years. Norwich University entered the NSF’s Cyber Corps in 2002. That qualifies the university to receive scholarship funds in this Scholarship for Service program, which is dedicated to cybersecurity education, workforce development and cybersecurity research opportunities.

Students enrolled in the program receive full tuition, housing, books and a summer internship. In return, they commit to work full time (year for year) for federal, state, local, tribal, or federally-funded research and development centers in the field of cybersecurity. Since 2002, 43 Norwich students have been part of the Scholarship for Service Community.

“Being part of the SFS program allows Norwich to attract top cybersecurity students who want real opportunities to make a difference in the world,” said Huw Read, director of the Center for Advanced Computing and Digital Forensics and Global Cyber Threat Observatory. “These scholars will not only train in current best practice to help secure the nation, but will engage in cutting-edge research projects helping to create a science of cybersecurity.”

Beginning this fall, five students will be attending Norwich on an NSF Cyber Corps scholarship. The timing is fortuitous: This fall Norwich opens a brand new academic building, Mack Hall, which houses a $1.6 million state-of-the-art cybersecurity War Room, a dedicated Digital Forensics laboratory, and a Cyber research lab, which are all powered by the Norwich University Center for Academic Computing-Digital Forensics (NUCAC-DF). The War Room seats 24 students and will be used to host cyber war games and teach students how to perform penetration tests. The Digital Forensics lab also seats 24 and contains state-of-the-art equipment to forensically analyze cellular devices, computers, and emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT). Research work conducted in the separate Cyber research lab will be submitted to leading Cyber conferences around the world giving students an opportunity to present their research internationally.

NUCAC-DF serves students and faculty and is used for deploying specialist learning environments for the Computer Security & Information Assurance (CSIA) program, for fostering a culture of research amongst students, for outreach activities and for providing physical infrastructure for the very best students to manage and maintain.

Ranked #2 by the Ponemon Institute for cyber security in the U.S., Norwich University programs are consistently ranked among the best in the nation for cyber security education. Norwich University is recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has received designation as a Center of Digital Forensics Academic Excellence (CDFAE) by the Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). Beginning in 2002, Norwich University became a member of what is now called National Science Foundation’s Cyber Corps: Scholarship for Service program. Norwich is partnered with the United States Army Reserves (USAR) to develop cyber-education curricula that align with federal standards and cybersecurity needs. Most recently Norwich’s online graduate program was named one of the top ten best cybersecurity graduate programs in the country by Universities.com.

Norwich is also home to [email protected], a National Security Agency and National Science Foundation-funded cybersecurity camp for high school students.

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu

Norwich University will celebrate its bicentennial in 2019. In fulfillment of Norwich’s mission to train and educate today’s students to be tomorrow’s global leaders, Norwich launched the Forging the Future campaign in 2014. The five-year campaign, which is timed to culminate in 2019, is committed to creating the best possible learning environment through state-of-the-art academics and world-class facilities and is designed to enhance the university’s strong position as it steps into its third century of service to the nation.

Source: NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University 8.28.2018