The Institute for Information Security & Privacy (IISP) at the Georgia Institute of Technology announced a $5-million scholarship fund and the creation of a new Ph.D. fellowship program dedicated to emerging cybersecurity ideas. Both efforts support students who want to pursue cybersecurity careers and research.

The $5-million scholarship fund from the National Science Foundation marks the third CyberCorps® award to Georgia Tech and a 96% increase in the size of the fund due to past success at Georgia Tech and the quality of its curriculum. Meanwhile, the Information Security & Privacy Cybersecurity Fellowship Program creates a second vehicle to support qualified students with advanced ideas for creating the next cybersecurity solutions.

“The IISP’s scholarship fund and new Ph.D. fellowship program together help Georgia Tech deliver on its promise to engineer solutions for the toughest cybersecurity problems, which include the continual need for technical innovation and unceasing workforce demand,” said Wenke Lee, co-director of the IISP and the John P. Imlay chair of software at the School of Computer Science. “We want to ensure that bright students with forward-thinking ideas receive the funding to pursue their work. The workforce needs them.”

CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service supports national security

The NSF’s CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service will financially support undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students who agree to work for the U.S. government after graduation. CyberCorps® provides tuition and a stipend to students in exchange for commitments to serve a federal, state, local or tribal government organization for a period equal to the length of their scholarship. Typically, undergraduate and master's students can be funded for up to two years, while doctoral students can be funded for three years.

CyberCorps® is open to students who are enrolled in the Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Public Policy or International Affairs departments at Georgia Tech who demonstrate strong interest in the field of cybersecurity. Scholarship recipients receive internship opportunities prior to graduation, professional development, and employment placement assistance in addition to full tuition, health insurance, book allowance and travel to government job fairs and internships. Students may apply at any time of the year via http://www.iisp.gatech.edu/cybercorps-scholarship-service

Cybersecurity Fellowship Program funds emerging ideas

The second effort – the IISP Cybersecurity Fellowship Program – is a new program to support doctoral students from any Georgia Tech unit whose innovative research ideas are under-funded or unfunded. Fellows are expected to complete research, remain in good academic standing, and submit their work to one of the leading academic conferences for cybersecurity.

All Ph.D. students are encouraged to apply if they have a significant focus in one of six core cybersecurity research areas: policy, consumer-facing privacy, risk, trust, attribution, or cyber-physical systems. The per-semester fellowship provides 50% support for Ph.D. students as a Graduate Research Assistant. The application deadline is Nov. 30, 2016 for students seeking support for the Spring '17 semester.

For more about either of these programs, visit iisp.gatech.edu