Information Assurance Scholarship Program

GW, as a National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, offers full scholarships for U.S. students to study computer security and information assurance. In 2008-09, we expect 13 students to pursue their bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees with federal funding from the National Science Foundation and the Defense Department.

These grants are part of GW's Partnership in Securing Cyberspace through Education and Service (PISCES) program. Over $5 million in funding has been provided for two-year, full scholarships (tuition, books, stipend, and in most cases room and board) for students to study computer security at GW or a partner university. After completing their coursework, students will help protect the nation's information infrastructure by working as security experts in a government agency for two years. Since 2002, 32 students have graduated with help from this program and have worked, as of July 2007, at the following organizations:

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration


• Agency for International Development


• Institute for Defense Analyses


• National Institute of Standards and Technology


• Department of Justice


• National Security Agency


• Department of the Army


• Department of Defense


• Defense Information Systems Agency


• Naval Research Laboratory


• Department of Commerce


• Government Printing Office


• Federal Reserve


• MITRE


• Government Accountability Office


• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory


• Department of Transportation


• Department of Energy


• Central Intelligence Agency


• National Park Service


• Federal Trade Commission

Approximately $750,000 has also been provided to build capacity at local institutions by developing a portable security laboratory, a Portable Educational Network (PEN) that may be used in a wide range of computer security and information assurance courses at multiple institutions. Related work has developed hands-on exercises and case studies, allowing students to use knowledge gained in the classroom to solve real-world computer security and information assurance challenges.

"Just as the Reserve Officer Training Corps [ROTC] trains traditional military officers, our CyberCorps program is training the cyber-age experts who defend and secure the information infrastructure," said SEAS Professor Lance Hoffman. "And just as ROTC has summer camp for its students, this program is placing trained students in summer internships and post-graduate jobs working on federal computer systems."

GW is partnering with Marymount University on the CyberCorps program to expand computer science and information assurance education opportunities to traditionally underrepresented groups and citizens of the Washington, D.C. area, as well as to capitalize on the strength and accessibility of courses available to students through the 11- member Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Collaborating on these projects along with Hoffman and Professor Rachelle Heller of the Department of Computer Science, are Professor Julie Ryan of the SEAS Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering (EMSE); Professor Eva Vincze, Program Director in the Forensic Sciences Department at GW; and Professor Joseph Cordes, Chair of the Public Policy Department at GW. Also working with many of the students in their coursework are Professor Julie Ryan of EMSE and Professors Poorvi Vora, Bhagi Narahari, and Rahul Simha of the Computer Science Department at GW. Professor Diane Murphy at Marymount University is in charge of a program where Marymount students take many computer security and information assurance courses at GW while earning a Marymount degree.

Application Instructions:

Applicants must apply to GW before their scholarship application will be considered.

See http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~infosec for information on the various departments.

Instructions and application forms are available at these links:

Adobe Acrobat Format or Microsoft Word Format.

Students applying for the Defense Department scholarships must also read and complete the following forms:

Attachment C in Microsoft Word Format or Adobe Acrobat Format
Attachment H in Microsoft Word Format or Adobe Acrobat Format

Read "Training to Hire", an article about our program and students in the November 2006 issue of FedTech.

View Videos about our Computer Security and Information Assurance (CSIA) Scholarship Program
(all videos in Windows Media Player Format)

You and a Possible GW Computer Security Scholarship -- Professor Lance Hoffman ( 6 min, 37 sec)
What the Program Gave Me -- by Kunal Johar, an Alumnus (2 min, 0 sec)
What the Scholarship Program Provides You, GW, and the Nation -- Dean Rachelle Heller (3 min, 41 sec)
What It's Like to be a CyberCorps Scholarship Recipient -- Professor Lance Hoffman (8 min, 19 sec)
How the Government Regulations Course Got Me a Job Offer During My Summer Internship -- Tim Parisi, GW CyberCorps 2006-08 (2 min, 22 sec)
CyberCorps Scholarship Partner Institutions (Marymount University and the University of Hawaii, and CyberWatch Community College Participants in the D.C. area) -- Professor Lance Hoffman (1 min, 33 sec)

Virtual Job Fair - click here to enter.