The National Science Foundation's Cyber Corps Scholarship for Service program

Scholarship for Service Proposal

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICES

The National Science Foundation in combination with the National Science and Technology Council bring forth the Cyber Corps (R): Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, which is pursuant of proposals that take into consideration cyber security education and workforce development. The main objective of this Request for Proposal is to track down and pinpoint the source that will provide the best general value to the National Science Foundation with regard to enhancing the education system in cyber security as well as the growth and progression of the workforce. Our goal as the National Science Foundation encompasses the recruitment and training of the forthcoming generation of professionals in the information technology field, specialists in industry control system security and security managers. Whereas being a student in cyber security is a significant factor, other criteria will form the basis of the awarding decision (National Science Foundation, 2014). This will be more comprehensively outlined in the subsequent evaluating factors segment of this RFP below.

Background

Cyberspace is an international virtual community facilitated by hyper-linked digital structures and has changed the everyday lives of people. Groups, families and their associates irrespective of distance and location can see and communicate with each other as though they are in the same area. Cyber economies generate new prospects. Each segment of the social order, each discipline, has been altered by cyberspace. In the present day, it is not alarming that cyberspace is significant and vital to our national primacies in business, schooling, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrialization, and defense (National Science Foundation, 2014). The hurry to espouse cyberspace, nonetheless, has brought out its instability in the open (National Science Foundation, 2014). The risks of hyper-connection have come to be agonizingly palpable to all and sundry. The privacy of individually distinguishable information is time and again disrupted on a substantial scale by unknown individuals. Our competitive edge is worn by the exfiltration of substantial intellectual property. In addition, law enforcement is staggered by the trouble of provenance, national borders, and tentative legal and ethical contexts. All these apprehensions presently impact the people's trust of cyberspace and the capacity of institutions to live up to their missions (National Science Foundation, 2014).

The National Science Foundation in collaboration with The National Science and Technology Council published and submitted a report in 2011 dubbed "Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cyber-Security Research and Development Program" (National Science Foundation, 2014). In particular, this plan delineates a comprehensive, organized research program to make cyberspace protected and dependable. It is imperative for the research in cyber security to change the game, evaluate and assess the misappropriations of cyber technology, strengthen education and teaching in cyber security, institute a science of cyber security, and changeover auspicious cyber security research into real world practice (National Science Foundation, 2014). In addition, the NFS adds on to the efforts undertaken by numerous agencies for the National Initiative for Cyber-Security Education (NICE), a program being undertaken by the White House (Young, 2016). The objective of both of these initiatives is to make certain that cyberspace is worthy of the trust from the general public (National Science Foundation, 2014). The solicitation gives recognition and acknowledgement that cyber-security education in combination with workforce development create a vital element for an effective execution and changeover to practice of any progressions in research and development of cyber-security (National Science Foundation, 2014).

Submission Guidelines and Requirements

The proposers who respond to this request for proposal might choose to submit their proposals in reaction to this SFS program through two ways, which are through the Grants.gov or the NSF Fast Lane system (National Science Foundation, 2016).

i. Submissions of Complete Proposals through the Fast Lane system

Submissions of complete proposals in response to this particular program petition ought to be prepared and submitted in agreement with the overall course of action kept in check in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide. This can be electronically obtained in the National Science Foundation website. Proposers are prompted to ascertain this program solicitation figure in the program solicitation segment on the NSF Cover Sheet for Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Amenability with this condition is vital to ascertaining the pertinent proposal handling guiding principles. The lack of submitting this information might defer processing (National Science Foundation, 2016).

ii. Submissions of Complete Proposals through the Grant.gov Way

Submissions of complete proposals in response to this particular program petition ought to be prepared and submitted in agreement with the overall course of action kept in check in the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide. This information can be obtained on both the NSF website as well as the Grants.gov website (National Science Foundation, 2016).

Project Description

It is debatable that cyber-security is the most significant challenge that the society is facing in the present information age. The individuals and also the government are not exempted from the depredations of malevolent cyber actions upon deficient and lacking technologies. Posturing cyber conflict exclusively in terms of standard assailants and guardians shortchanges the multiplicity and intricacy of the incentives, motivations, ethics, irregularities, and stratagems of the component players and actors in cyberspace. The intellectual challenger, regardless of whether it is a human or software, acquires and advances to exploit, disturb, and override (Evans et al., 2016). Taking this challenge into consideration necessitates a collaborated strategy between several disciplines, adding to the vast amount of knowledge on cyber-security in several disciplines, and resulting in real-world technologies that can be deployed. These determinations necessitate a ground-breaking and well-organized cyber-security education system that will generate the unparalleled and unmatched cyber-security labor force vital to the United States nationwide security, sustained economic growth and future high-tech modernization in secure cyberspace.

The Cyber Corps (R): Scholarship for Service (SFS) program is welcoming and accepting proposals that encompass and take into consideration cyber-security education and workforce development. In particular, the Scholarship Track makes funding available to Institutions for granting scholarships to students in cyber-security. In response to their scholarships, the beneficiaries are expected to work subsequent to their graduation for a Federal, State, Local, or Tribal Government organization in a job position that is interrelated to cyber-security for a period equivalent to the span of the scholarship. The Capacity Track searches for ground-breaking proposals resulting in a rise in the capacity of the United States higher education initiative to generate and yield cyber-security professionals (Deloitte, 2015).

Scholarship Track

The Scholarship for Service (SFS) program provides funding for student scholarships for supporting education in fields that are pertinent to cyber-security. In return, these students that attain the scholarships have to come to an understanding that they will work for the Federal Government once they graduate. However, this is cause to undergo approval and consent of the NSF program office, for a State, Local, or Tribal Government in a work position associated with cyber-security for a time period that is equivalent to the time span of the scholarship. In the course of the scholarship period, the students will take part in meaningful and important summer internships. In addition, the doctoral students are permitted to substitute or interchange their summer internships with a research activity subsequent to attaining a recommendation from their respective academic advisors and attaining approval and consent from the National Science Foundation program office.

The objective of the program is 100% assignment, which can only be realized by means of the active collaboration amongst all of the parties that are involved. Whereas the students taking part in the SFS are accountable for their own individual job searches, the SFS program office, via the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), makes available numerous implements to help in the job hunt and arranges a job fair every single year. The students are expected to enthusiastically take part and engage with OPM in order to attain a placement and employment in a Federal, State, Local or Tribunal Government organization. In addition, the students also have to take part in other Scholarship for Service (SFS) activities, for instance, workshops, seminars and conferences. These activities are purposed at growing and developing a community of practice that will advance the individual and collective skills of the students in a field progressively significant to the security of the United States.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) works in partnership with National Science Foundation in this program by providing internship and assignment support to SFS scholarship students. This is by matching up the changeover of the students into government employment, by observing students' amenability with program necessities, and by evaluating whether the program aids meet the employee requirements of the Federal government for information infrastructure safety. Scholarship support is provided to students who efficaciously compete in a selection procedure that is developed, who meet the Scholarship for Service eligibility criteria, and who are long-established as competent for employment in the Federal Cyber Service by OPM. It is anticipated that the doctorate participants for the SFS program will attain their degree within a period of two years from the start of their scholarships. Nonetheless, the funding period might be prolonged to three years for these doctoral students.

In order to be eligible for consideration for a scholarship for service (SFS) scholarship, a student first of all, has to be a United States citizen. Since the program provides funding for graduate students, a student must be one of the following:

i. A full-time student within two years of graduation with a master's degree in a comprehensible official program that is dedicated to cyber-security at an awardee institution, or ii. A full-time student within three years of graduation with both the bachelor's and the master's degree, or a student taking part in a joint bachelor's and master's degree program, for five years or iii. A research-based doctoral student within three years of graduation.

The recipients and beneficiaries of the scholarships also have to meet the criteria for selection for Federal employment. Assignments for internship and allocations for the final jobs in government organizations usually necessitate security clearances of high-level. Therefore, the recipients and beneficiaries of the scholarships are necessitated to go through the circumstantial investigation required to get hold of these sorts of clearances as part of the job as well as internship application procedure. For each proposing institution, they have to make available an explanation of its selection criteria and procedure, and have to provide and hand in their lists of applicants for SFS scholarships to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for concluding admissibility verification.

Solicitations from institutions that have not taken part in the past in the SFS program will be taken into consideration, independently from proposals from reintroducing institutions. Institutions with prevailing SFS scholarship programs ought to clearly point out that they are making application for a renewal in the summary or title of the project and are expected to provide:

i. Particular confirmation of their contemporary SFS program accomplishments. Pointers of program achievement, taking account of, but are not restricted to, appointment statistics, faculty improvement activities, incorporation of research and education, advising and counseling of non-SFS institutions, working together of government and pertinent employment sectors, and curricular modernizations.

ii. Specific strategies as well as indication of program sustainability and/or institutionalization determinations together with information on students, devoid of SFS scholarships, who were positioned in government jobs and the preservation of SFS scholarship beneficiaries in the national labor force further than their original responsibility.

The institutions handing out proposals, irrespective of whether they are giving submissions for new proposals or renewing proposals are also anticipated to have management and administrative plans that are clearly articulated for the following program components:

i. Substantiation of scholarship candidates' entitlement, together with the recipients' educational excellence, suitable professional abilities, and admission into a cyber-security program.

ii. Accounting for scholarships, which are made up of remunerations, tuition, education-related payments, as well as other allowances pronounced below. It is imperative to point out that the scholarships granted are not centered on the financial needs of the student.

iii. Endowment of academic-year remunerations of $32,000 per year for graduate students. These amounts will be contained within the budget under Participant Support expenses.

iv. Provision of scholarship amounts to be employed for costs normally borne by full-time students at the institution. This takes into account tuition and education associated fees. However, these fees do not include payments or expenses such as meal plans, accommodation, or parking. However, it does also include a health insurance compensation allowance up to $2,000 per year, a professional development stipend of $3,000 for SFS Job Fair and other travel, professional official recognition and a book allowance of $1,000 per academic year. These will be contained within the budget under Participant Support expenses.

v. Provision for harmonization with OPM for summer internship placements and permanent job assignments for every student. Students are anticipated to undertake government internship placements in the summer between their first and second year of scholarship study. Summer training periods are characteristically remunerated by the employing agency. Money for summer internships ought not to be contained within the recommended SFS budget. Doctoral students may be permitted to swap research activity for their summer internship, subsequent to obtaining commendation from their academic advisor as well as consent from the NSF program office.

vi. Provisions for following the educational advancement of students to ascertain their sustained entitlement all the way through the academic portion of the program. Post-graduation following of students to authenticate that they meet the service requirement is an activity that will be undertaken by OPM. This is to avoid any conflict of interest.

vii. Objectives that are clearly stated and an assessment plan elucidating how such objectives will be measured. Assessment plans ought to take into account both a stratagem and approach for monitoring the project as it advances to offer feedback to give guidance to these determinations. It also encompasses an approach for assessing the efficacy of the project in realizing its objectives and for ascertaining constructive and positive results when the project is completely finished. This will be referred to as summative assessment. The beneficiaries are expected to be in cooperation with the monitoring and evaluation system done at the SFS program level.

These items mentioned above have to be clearly indicated in detail and other suitable sections of the proposal.

Institutional Accountabilities for Scholarship Projects

The institution attaining and being bestowed upon the award shall call for every recipient of a scholarship to accept the terms being set for the scholarship and consents to provide the institution as well as the OPM with yearly certification of employment and current contact information. The beneficiaries must also consent to take part in surveys piloted by the project and program assessors as part of project-level and program assessment determinations. Monitoring the amenableness of grant beneficiaries with regard to finishing their service requirements will be the combined accountability of OPM and the institution. The lack of satisfying the educational demands of the program or to finish the service obligation will give rise to loss of the scholarship award, which will degenerate to a student loan with payments pro-rated properly to mirror fractional service completed.

The institution is accountable for collecting the reimbursement amounts, comprising interest accrued. All stripped of scholarship moneys, less sensible, allocable, and admissible institutional expenses linked with gathering of the reimbursement not to surpass 5% of the surrendered amount, will be given back to the United States Treasury and might not be used again by the institution. Scholarship beneficiaries in dexterity with the institution and the Principal Investigator (PI) may entreaty the NSF Program Office to relinquish or append reimbursement of scholarships in instances of extreme adversity or other conditions that would impede the contentment of the service requirement.

The Principal Investigator will have general accountability for the management of the institution's grant, the supervision of the project, and communications with NSF and OPM. The Principal Investigator together with the institution being bestowed are anticipated to have or to cultivate a managerial structure that empowers faculty, academic supervisors, scholarship beneficiaries, and others included in the project to interrelate effectively for the duration of the grant period. The PI is anticipated to be an essential contributor in the educational undertakings of the SFS project and is necessitated to take part in boot camps, job fairs, conferences and other SFS-funded events.

A proposing institution has to provide properly acknowledged indication of a strong prevailing academic program in cyber-security. This sort of proof can take into account the Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education designation by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. It can also encompass a specific description by a nationwide acknowledged organization, for instance, in forensics or cyber operations or correspondent indication detailing a strong program in cyber-security. An emphasis on recruiting and retaining made light of minorities, women, first-generation or low-income students, individuals with disabilities and veterans is intensely heartened. Lastly, proposals have to give a clear indication and explanation as to how their projects will take into consideration the formerly specified goals of the program. Project objectives have to be transformed into a set of anticipated measurable results that can be supervised using quantitative or qualitative approaches or a combination of the two. These results ought to be utilized to track advancement, guide the project, and assess its influence.

Capacity Track

The Scholarship for Service (SFS) Capacity Track looks for proposals resulting in an increase in the capacity and competence of the United States higher education initiative to generate cyber-security professionals. Proposals placing emphasis on capacity building ought to add on to the development of prevailing educational prospects and resources in cyber-security. Thus may encompass, but is not restricted to the following endeavors and determinations:

i. Piloting research on the training and learning of cyber security, which consists of research on materials, techniques and small-scale interventions.

ii. Instituting curricula recommendations for new courses, degree curriculums, and educational paths with strategies for wide implementation all over the country.

iii. Assess teaching and learning efficiency of cyber-security curricular programs and courses.

iv. Incorporate cyber-security subjects into computer science, information technology, engineering and other prevailing degree programs with strategies for persistent implementation.

v. Cultivate computer-generated laboratories to encourage group effort and sharing of resources in cyber-security education.

vi. Build up partnerships between institutions of higher education, government, and pertinent employment sectors, resulting in enhanced models for the incorporation of applied research understandings and know-how into cyber-security degree programs.

vii. Assess the efficiency of cyber-security competitions, games, and other outreach and maintenance activities

All of the projects encompassed in capacity track, irrespective of the scope, ought to have very clear stated objective and an assessment plan that elucidates how they will be measured. Assessment plans ought to encompass an approach for monitoring the project as it progresses to offer feedback to guide these determinations. It also ought to encompass a strategy for assessing the efficacy of the project in attaining its objectives for ascertaining constructive and positive outcomes when the project is culminated. Proposals ought to clearly elucidate how their projects will take into consideration the formerly stated goals of the program. Project objectives ought to be transformed into a number of anticipated measurable results that can be observed using qualitative approaches or quantitative or a combination of the two. These results ought to be employed to follow progress, offer guidance for the project and assess its impact.

Project Scope

As aforementioned, it is imperative for the students to indicate that they are part of a program encompassing cyber-security. In the same manner, institutions handing out submissions also have to indicate that they do have programs which outline the development of cyber-security. The program ought to encompass the following courses:

Enterprise Systems Architecture

Large-scale enterprise systems often rely on architectural frameworks that define their main components as well as the interactions among these components. Students in this course explore the principle design strategies and tools for constructing the modern information system. They identify common vendor and open-source components and learn how they can configure these components to create and integrate robust Web- and distributed services and applications.

Fundamentals of Information Assurance

The principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data while it is being stored, processed, or communicated, guide the policies and practices of information assurance. In this course, students investigate the theory of information security and data protection, study common system risks and vulnerabilities, and follow best practices to protect network, computer, and data assets. Through the examination of these practices, students learn about organizational policies, access controls, software and network design, and logging and auditing.

IT Leadership Simulator: Developing Proactive and Reactive Security Plan

In this information technology (IT) leadership course, students delve into a problem-based learning scenario focused on an organization that has experienced a security breach. Students examine relevant IT governance, security, and privacy issues that are essential to the organization. They gain practical experience in formulating comprehensive, proactive and reactive system security plans. Students also explore sound IT management principles in decision making and implementation of broad-scale change.

Seminar in Information Security

Students in this doctoral seminar focus on the scholarly and practice-oriented literature related to information security. Students explore major theoretical approaches and practices that define the discipline and the strategic and organizational implications of information security, such as secure data, secure networks, vulnerabilities, and computer forensics. During the majority of the seminar, students work with colleagues, including faculty members, to identify threads and tendencies for further reading and discussion in a true doctoral seminar format. They also have the opportunity to lead their colleagues as well as participate in academic discourse.