Cybercrooks, beware! A federal grant is training UW students to become digital crimefighters

Cybercriminals who cause mayhem to all things digital, from bank accounts to nuclear stockpiles, are in no short supply these days.

A $2.1 million federal grant to the University of Washington is helping train graduate students to battle the cybercrooks.

The four-year Scholarship for Service grant will eventually provide full-ride scholarships and stipends to 18 graduate students at the UW Seattle campus and UW Tacoma Institute of Technology, said Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, director of the UW Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, which received the grant.

After earning their master’s degrees, recipients must work for the federal government one year for each year of scholarship received, up to two years total.

The program is part of a federal initiative to increase the number of professionals charged with protecting the government’s information infrastructure. These are the experts who prevent and respond to cyber attacks on military, power, transportation and other systems that are critical to the public’s physical and economic well-being.

“We are ultimately training people who can lead solutions to this problem,” said Endicott-Popovsky, the grant’s principal investigator.

The program is funded by the National Science Foundation and sponsored by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

Cybersecurity center gives UW an edge

The grants are available through the three dozen universities in the country meeting the stringent requirements to be designated Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education or Research.

UW is the only university in Washington state that has such a designation. That’s due in large part to the collaboration of the UW Tacoma Institute of Technology, and UW Seattle’s Information School, and the Computer Science and Engineering Department that led to creation of the Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity.

Starting this fall, the grant supports two years of tuition, books, room and board for two UW Tacoma and two UW Seattle graduate students. In addition to the academic support, each scholar receives a $12,000 annual stipend.

Cybersecurity immersion

The grant recipients are Chuck Costarella and Michael Schweiger on the Tacoma campus, and Ginger Armbruster and Aaron Alva on the Seattle campus.

In the summers between academic years, the recipients must intern at a federal agency. In their second year of study, the scholars will conduct research on a project related to cybersecurity and information assurance, a broad term for assessing and managing risks to the security and privacy of information in organizations.

“Our job is to immerse them in cybersecurity,” Endicott-Popovsky said.

Six students will join the program next year, and eight more will enter the following year.

Grant improves research climate for all

Beyond assisting the individual scholarship recipients, the program will strengthen the graduate program of the Institute of Technology overall and help attract more grants, said Sam Chung, associate professor of Computer Science and Systems and Information Technology and Systems at UW Tacoma.

As they develop projects, recipients will trade ideas and work alongside other students in university computer labs, benefiting those student researchers, as well.

“It will boost the research environment,” said Chung, the Tacoma facilitator for the grant.

The scholarship makes it possible for Costarella, an entrepreneur living in Gig Harbor, to earn a master’s degree at the Tacoma institute. Formerly a computer science instructor at a community college and a software programmer, Costarella wants to reenter the technology industry.

When he initially looked into attending the institute, however, he decided he couldn’t afford the tuition, living expenses and school-related costs for two years.

Then the institute told him about the Scholarship for Service Program, and he applied.

Federal job mandate

Costarella, 53, particularly likes the program’s requirement to work for the federal government, and that “participation is emphasized, groomed, mentored, and mandatory.”

“It’s like the difference between wanting to lose weight,” he said, “and having a successful team of personal trainers who come by your house every morning and drag you into the gym to work out.”

Since starting their master’s programs this fall, Costarella is exploring software assurance-related curriculum based upon his teaching experiences, while Schweiger is considering research topics in secure software testing.                    

Schweiger, 25, said he loves the idea of contributing to the field of cybersecurity and information assurance.  The grant will help him build upon the bachelor’s degree he earned in computer science and systems at UW Tacoma in June. 

“Eternal job security”

“Not every person working in this field can say that he or she really helped change the landscape of the field.  I not only want to help protect what already exists, but to help form standards for future computer science professionals,” said Schweiger, who lives in Bonney Lake. “Security has never been at the forefront in most developers’ minds, and I want to change that.”

“In addition to that, who doesn’t love the idea of essentially eternal job security?  As long as cybercriminals exist, security professionals will be in demand.

The field of information assurance and cybersecurity is brimming with high-paying jobs that can’t be filled quickly enough, Endicott-Popovsky said. She said her students who earn a certificate in cybersecurity typically have two to three job offers from which to choose, even in the lackluster economy.

Student interest in the field is soaring.

“My classes doubled last year; they’re going up in size again this year,” Endicott-Popovsky said. “It will be even better next year.”