Security | News

Carnegie Mellon Gets $5.6 Million for Security Scholarships

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/03/14

The occupational outlook for information security analysts is looking good. Between 2012 and 2022, the job prospects for people trained in that field are expected to grow 37 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Students at Carnegie Mellon have received an extra boost in that direction. The university recently received a $5.6 million grant through the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS), a federal program that provides scholarships to students who expect to become federal information assurance professionals.

"SFS scholars" must commit to federal employment after graduation, typically for a period of two years at organizations such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the FBI or Sandia National Laboratory. To be considered for the program, students must also be United States citizens and be accepted into related graduate programs at the College of Engineering or the Heinz College.

Carnegie Mellon has been the recipient of SFS funding for a decade with awards totaling $2.16 million. However, the university reported that the most recent one is the largest to date. A total of 157 SFS scholarship recipients have graduated from the university and gone to work for the federal government.

2014 graduate Allison Boos took a position as an IT specialist in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice after studying information security at the College of Engineering's Information Networking Institute and participating in a summer internship at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's National Incident Response Team. "The experience of being an SFS student not only provided me with the education and skills inherent in a Carnegie Mellon education but also surrounded me with others with similar interests and goals, establishing a network that is both personally and professionally beneficial," Boos said.

The latest funding is also expected to support Carnegie Mellon's participation in research efforts with other institutions.

"Our graduates in information security are sought after by employers and our research activities at CyLab are discussed by leaders and innovators in the areas of threat analysis, software security, cryptography, privacy, risk management and other areas," said James Garrett Jr., dean of the College of Engineering. "The SFS scholarship funds and new collaborative research opportunities are much appreciated by and a great fit for our faculty and students."