Slots:1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: TBA
LOI: Not required.
External Deadline: July 15, 2025
Recurring Deadlines: July 15, annually thereafter
Award Information
Award Type: Continuing Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 12 to 16
Anticipated Award Amount: $20,000,000
Who May Serve as PI: As of the submission deadline, PIs, co-PIs, or other senior project personnel must hold primary, full-time, paid appointments in research or teaching positions at US-based campuses of institutions eligible to submit to this solicitation (see above), with exceptions granted for family or medical leave, as determined by the submitting institution.
Link to Award: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/cybercorps-scholarship-service-sfs/nsf23-574/solicitation
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
Cybersecurity is arguably one of the most important challenges confronting society in the information age. Neither governments nor individuals are exempt from the ravages of cyber-attacks. However, posing cyber conflict solely in terms of classic attackers and defenders understates the diversity and subtlety of the motivations, incentives, ethics, asymmetries, and strategies of the constituent actors in cyberspace. The intelligent adversary, whether a nation-state actor, an AI bot, an activist group, or a criminal, learns and evolves to exploit, disrupt, and overpower. Addressing the challenge of cybersecurity requires a coordinated multi-disciplinary approach, contributing to the body of knowledge on cybersecurity in multiple disciplines, and leading to practical, deployable technologies. These efforts require an innovative and efficient cybersecurity education system that will create an unrivaled cybersecurity workforce critical to US national security, continued economic growth, and future technological innovation in secure cyberspace.
The goals of the CyberCorps® SFS Program are to: (1) increase the number of qualified and diverse cybersecurity candidates for government cybersecurity positions; (2) improve the national capacity for the education of cybersecurity professionals and research and development workforce; (3) hire, monitor, and retain high-quality CyberCorps® graduates in the cybersecurity mission of Federal Government; and (4) strengthen partnerships between institutions of higher education and federal, state, local, and tribal governments. Examples of partnerships between SFS institutions and government organizations include internship agreement, advisory boards, speaker series, participation in cybersecurity task forces, etc. The SFS Program welcomes proposals to establish or to continue scholarship programs in cybersecurity. All scholarship recipients must work after graduation for a federal, state, local, or tribal government organization in a position related to cybersecurity, or as educators in the field of cybersecurity at an SFS institution, for a period equal to at least the duration of the scholarship. A proposing institution must provide clearly documented evidence of a strong existing program in cybersecurity. In addition to information provided in the proposal narrative, such evidence may include ABET accreditation in cybersecurity; designation by the National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C); or equivalent evidence documenting a strong program in cybersecurity. The SFS Program also supports efforts leading to an increase in the ability of the United States higher education enterprise to produce cybersecurity professionals.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.