The Department of Computer Science has received a $1.85 million federal grant to provide scholarships for about 30 master’s students who want to help protect the nation’s cyberinfrastructure. Cyberinfrastructure includes such critical computer systems as the nation’s power grid, transportation networks, secure government databases, and military networks. The first two graduate students to receive the scholarships are Shay Ellison and Sereyvathana Ty.

The four-year grant comes to FSU from the National Science Foundation through a program called “Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service.” Generally, FSU students who receive the scholarship will receive two years of funding that will cover tuition, books, fees, a stipend, and room and board. After completing their master’s degree, students are required to work for a government agency for two years, typically such agencies as the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Homeland Security, or possibly even a national lab, such as Sandia National Laboratories.

One beauty of the program, according to Professor Mike Burmester, principal investigator (PI) on the grant, is that it also includes a paid summer internship with the government, generally in the Washington, D.C. area. The internship supplements the students’ academic coursework with practical experience, making them not only very valuable as government employees but highly in demand by the private sector once they finish their government service, Burmester said.

“There is no recession in this area,” Burmester added.

David Whalley, department chair, had high praise for the program. “The skills the students will learn will benefit these federal agencies and help to protect the nation’s cyberinfrastructure, which is increasingly under attack from individuals and some other governments,” Whalley said. “Having such a grant means that the CS department can also expand the size of its graduate program due to having more support for graduate students.”

Co-PIs on the grant are Professor Sudhir Aggarwal, Associate Professor Xiuwen Liu, and Assistant Professor Feifei Li, all of computer science. Students who would like to apply for the grant can go to the following website for further information http://www.sait.fsu.edu/index_2010.shtml and should contact Kristan McAlpin, graduate coordinator, at mcalpin@cs.fsu.edu