UNCC Department of Software and Information Systems

Carolinas Cyber Defender Scholarship

Do you want to work for the federal government

Help defend our nation’s cyberspace against CyberCrime and CyberTerrorism?

And have your education fully paid for?

Join the elite cyber security team at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte!

Deadline to apply for Fall 2009 semester: July 15, 2009

Recipients may fulfill their after-graduation obligations
by employment with a federal, state, or local government agency

What the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program Offers

Through the Federal Cyber Corps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University will provide grants to students studying in the field of information assurance (IA).

Each scholarship recipient will complete either a Bachelor's degree in Software and Information Systems or Computer Science, or a Master's degree in either Information Technology or Computer Science. Each scholarship student must be able to complete his or her academic program within a maximum of two years. Rising juniors and seniors are eligible either as undergraduates or through the early entry accelerated track for the MS degree.

All participants will be fully integrated into the department's research programs and become affiliated with an on-going research project.

In addition to their degrees, graduate students will complete a Graduate Certificate in Information Security and Privacy at UNC Charlotte. There will be additional activities that are created especially for the SFS students.

Scholarship Benefits

Each student in the program will be supported for up to two years. The specific benefits are:

Tuition and fees: Applicable tuition and fees, including the reasonable cost of textbooks and any out-of-state and/or graduate student fees, will be paid on behalf of the scholarship recipients. This support is provided in addition to the stipend. (Out-of-state tuition may be offered subject to overall funding limits).
Stipend: To cover room, board, and other expenses, an undergraduate will be paid a stipend of $13,000 per year ($6,500 per semester). Graduate students will be paid a stipend of $15,000 per year ($8,500 per semester).
Research: Each student will be matched to a on-going research project under the direction of an IA faculty member.

Requirements and Eligibility

The eligibility criteria are:

A United States citizen.
Either a full-time graduate student within two years of graduation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte or North Carolina A&T State University with either a Master's degree in Information Technology or Computer Science, or a qualified rising junior or senior at UNC Charlotte (more details below in Criteria for Selection).
Preferences will be given to those students who will be in the program for at least three semesters in order to have the necessary exposure to information security research.
Each student must meet selection criteria for federal, state, or local government employment. Final job placement may require a security clearance, so each scholarship recipient may be required to undergo the background investigation required to obtain such a clearance.

Recipient Responsibility

In return for receiving scholarship benefits, each scholarship recipient incurs two obligations:

During the summers while enrolled in the program, each student will be responsible for securing an internship position at a federal, state, or local government agency. Numerous resources are available to assist students in identifying and applying for internships.
Upon graduation, each student will be required to work in a qualified information assurance position for a federal, state, or local government agency or a qualified national laboratory. The work requirement time period matches the supported time period. For example, a full two-year scholarship requires two years of federal employment. Each student is responsible for identifying, applying for, and securing a qualified position. Numerous resources are available including an annual job fair specifically for SFS students as well as the assistance of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which oversees permanent placement for scholarship students.

Application Process and Deadlines

Each applicant to the SFS program should provide the following:

Completed application form.
Statement of purpose and description of goals and motivations to pursue a career in Information Assurance and computer security.
Official transcripts of all college work outside of UNC Charlotte or NC A&T.
Recommendation letters from at least two university faculty members familiar with the student's background. The faculty members may be from UNC Charlotte or another institution. Additional letters of recommendation from employers, supervisors, or other faculty members are encouraged.

The application deadline is July 15, 2009 for admission to the Fall semester (beginning in August, 2009).

All applicants should send (or have sent) all of the information listed above to:

Scholarship for Service c/o Bruce Long
Department of Software and Information Systems
Woodward 341
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223

Electronic submissions to nblong@uncc.edu are acceptable as well. Please include as the Subject line "SFS Application".

Questions may be directed to Bruce Long, 704-687-8441 or to nblong@uncc.edu.

Criteria for Selection

The selection criteria are as follows:

Undergraduate Students
- United States citizen
- Junior (60 hours) or Senior (90 hours) standing at UNC Charlotte as of the Spring semester 2008. Students must be able to complete their undergraduate degree requirements in no more than two years (i.e., four regular semesters).
- At least a 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.
- Recommendation letters from at least two faculty members. Additional letters from employers or faculty members are acceptable.
- Evaluation of the student's potential for success in the IA program.
Graduate Students
- United States citizen.
- Official acceptance into the graduate program by either UNC Charlotte or NC A&T State University.
- Expected graduation with MS degree in either Information Technology or Computer Science within two years.
- At least a 3.2 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.
- Recommendation letters from at least two faculty members. Additional letters from employers or faculty members are acceptable.
- Evaluation of the student’s potential for success in the IA program.

In addition, we will consider the following criteria for both undergraduate and graduate candidates:

Commitment to participate in summer service and service following degree completion according to the guidelines of the SFS program.
Commitment to participate in assessment activities after their scholarship and required federal service has ended.
Demonstrated leadership, participation in team activities, prior social service, and/or evidence of creative and independent thinking and/or acting.

Competition is expected to be significant. Only the most qualified students will be selected.

Selection Process

A panel of IA faculty from UNC Charlotte and NC A&T State University will review all applications and interview likely candidates, either in person or by telephone. The selection process will end when the panel selects the most qualified students to be admitted on the basis of application data and the interview. During this selection process, the students’ interests, goals, and requests will be used to match each scholarship student with an appropriate faculty mentor.

Special Activities and Programs for SFS Students

Key components of the SFS program, in addition to the normal classroom and laboratory experiences contained in the graduate curricula, are:

Faculty with considerable experience in working with undergraduate and graduate students in a teaching and research environment.
Immediate integration of students in existing research programs in information assurance.
A Cyber Research Seminar emphasizing critical thinking, leadership, presentation, and publication skills.
As a complement to hands-on research, a series of Information Security and Privacy seminars will allow students to interact with experts in the field of information assurance.
An internship workshop will be held annually. Students will present their internship experiences.
Development of professional skills through lectures, mentoring, a training series, and experience.

The service aspect, coordinated by OPM, where students will serve in a government agency during the summers while they are enrolled in the SFS program. This service experience will give them an opportunity to solve specific real problems in information assurance.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply if I have an Associate's degree? No, you must be an undergraduate junior or senior or be admitted to one of the graduate programs listed in the selection criteria.
If I am seeking the undergraduate scholarship do I have to be a Software and Information Systems major? No. However, the scholarship is awarded to students who are pursuing a career in Information Assurance which requires completion of specialized undergraduate coursework. This includes the following courses: ITIS 3100, ITIS 3200, ITIS 3300, ITIS 3320, ITIS 4220, ITIS 4250, ITIS 4166, and at least 6 hours of directed research (a two-semester Senior Project would qualify). Each student awarded the scholarship must complete the courses listed above (including any prerequisites), either as a part of their normal degree or independently. If you are seeking the graduate scholarship you will develop the necessary skills and knowledge by taking graduate courses so the courses listed above do not apply.
Am I required to work for two years even if I can obtain my degree faster? No. The work requirement is a one-for-one match between the time you are supported and the time you are asked to work. For example, if you are supported for three semesters, then you would have a work obligation of one and a half years.
Can I apply for this program if I am interested in a PhD degree in computer science? No. Only Bachelor's and Master's degrees are available through this program.
Can I apply if I am an undergraduate planning on completing a Masters degree? Yes. The limiting factor on time is the ability to achieve degree completion in no more than four regular semesters. Some advanced undergraduates may be able to complete both their undergraduate and their graduate requirements within that time frame by using the Early Entry program to graduate school and applying graduate courses to undergraduate requirements.
Will it be possible to complete the service obligation at any one of the national laboratories, such as INEEL? Yes. 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.
Does employment at a state or local government agency qualify to fulfill scholarship obligations? Yes. Many state and local governments face similar challenges as do Federal agencies when trying to attract and retain highly qualified IT professionals. These state and local governments are full participants in the US Government's information infrastructure, and as such, their participation in the SFS program is appropriate. Students must fulfill all other requirements of the program, especially that after graduation they must be employed in an Information Assurance (IA) position.
What would be the starting salary for someone graduating from this program? Persons with a Bachelor's degree are typically employed at least at the GS-7 level. Students with Master's degrees may be appointed at the GS-9 level. Higher civil service levels and steps may be applicable depending on prior experience and other factors. The hiring agency makes the determination about the civil service pay grade and step. Federal pay rates vary depending on the location where the person works. Also, special pay rates have been created for Federal IT-related jobs. These rates may be viewed at http://www.opm.gov/oca/02tables/SSR/index.htm.
What should the letters of recommendations include? The faculty panel will evaluate each applicant based on criteria described in the application. This includes the following: problem identification and analysis; effective presentation; effective written communications; response to people’s needs, feelings, and capabilities (e.g. service at K-12 schools). The faculty panel seeks input from a variety of sources including the reference letters. Ideally, letters of reference will address each of these aspects of the applicant's ability.
Can I use the same reference letters for my graduate school application as well as for the scholarship application? Yes. Please indicate in your scholarship application that you would like to use the same reference letters as your graduate application. We will obtain these letters from the graduate school.

Security and Information Assurance Research at UNC Charlotte and NC A&T State University

The following illustrate some of the many on-going research projects at UNC Charlotte and North Carolina A&T State University.

Access control policy management. This research is a collaboration between several researchers and aims at developing a framework for large/multiple enterprises to manage access control policies. The approach integrates role-based access control, delegation, distributed trust management, PMI and PKI.
Authentication architectures for healthcare applications. This research aims at the development of a robust, easy-to-use, scalable authentication architecture to be used for strong authentication. Although it is targeted for health care applications, many aspects of the architecture are generic and can be used by other types of applications as well.
Authentication protocols for token-based wearable devices. This research is looking at a new, patented approach to wireless-based strong user authentication based on wearable communication devices. It enables the development of innovative wireless applications that can protect the privacy of users in a wireless communication environment.
Efficient algorithms for encryption and digital signature. Representing a significant improvement over previous works, this research has resulted a new class of algorithms and protocols that combine encryption and digital signature into a single algorithm. It can be applied with a variety of public-key encryption techniques and results in very significant savings in computing time. One of the promising applications of this patented approach is that it can be used in wireless communication with significant saving in power consumption over traditional methods.
Information security architecture for collaborative working environments. This research investigates alternative security models and architectures for collaborative working environments, including workflow and context-rich information environments.
Modular intrusion detection. The focus of this research seeks to create a new modular paradigm for intrusion detection. One key characteristic is that it will be extremely scalable, ranging from a home-based network to large networks spanning multiple geographical locations.
Security for resource constrained computing. A security extension to KVM (a micro version of Java) for PDAs running on the Palm operating system has been developed. Faculty and students are currently investigating new and efficient information security techniques for the next generation of hand-held devices.
Survivability mechanisms for mobile networks. Performs critical analysis of protocol behavior for both cellular and ad hoc network architectures. The objective is to develop a realistic test bed to assess how mobile networks can continue to operate under various attack/disaster scenarios

Useful Web Links

Academic program links:
o Laboratory of Information Integration, Security and Privacy at UNC Charlotte
o Master's of Science of Information Technology at UNC Charlotte
o Master's of Science in Computer Science at UNC Charlotte
o Master's of Science in Computer Science at NC A&T State University
o Graduate studies at UNC Charlotte
o Download UNC Charlotte graduate application forms
o Bachelor of Arts in Software & Information Systems at UNC Charlotte
o Undergraduate Admissions at UNC Charlotte
Links to organizations responsible for SFS operations and to other SFS recipients:
o The U.S. Office of Personnel Management
o List of all the institutions with Scholarship for Service awards
Links to the National Science Foundation's Scholarship for Service program:
o The NSF Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service program