RIT Partners with Department of Defense to Provide Opportunities for Students

Students in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences at RIT have a unique opportunity to partner with the federal government. The college’s Department of Networking, Security and Systems Administration has secured a grant from the National Security Agency, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, to fund a scholarship program aimed at students studying a discipline related to computer and network security.

“The purpose is to increase the number of students who are entering the field of security and information assurance and to meet the Department of Defense’s need for expertise in the areas of information technology for war fighting and security of its information infrastructure,” says Sharon Mason, the principal investigator of the grant and a networking, security and systems administration professor.

The scholarship covers the full tuition of both undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate winners receive a $12,000 stipend and graduate recipients receive a $17,000 stipend. In exchange, recipients agree to work for the Department of Defense for one calendar year for each year they receive the scholarship. Many winners also participate in internships with the Department of Defense during the time they receive the scholarship.

“The students who apply for the scholarship are really excited by the idea of working with the government on this initiative of national defense,” Mason says.

This is the second time the department received the grant. For security reasons, the names of the scholarship winners are not made public.

The deadline to apply for this year’s scholarship is Feb. 2. For more information, as well as scholarship requirements, visit www.nssa.rit.edu/IASP.