Providing a Financial Benefit of Approximately $250,000 for a Higher Education
County College of Morris (CCM) has received a total of $70,451 as a sub-recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Stevens Institute of Technology to assist students interested in developing a career in cyber security.
The NSF grant, known as the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service, has been awarded to Stevens Institute of Technology with CCM serving as a partner so selected community college students can take part in the program. The award covers all costs for the last year at CCM and then the expenses associated with earning a bachelor’s degree in cyber security at Stevens. In exchange for receiving the scholarship, CCM recipients are asked to spend three years working with a federal, state or local organization in the area of cyber security.
Covering all expenses for three years of college, the grant through the CCM/Stevens partnership equates to a financial benefit of approximately $250,000 for students.
CCM awarded its first CyberCorps sub-grant in 2016 to Andrew Soutar, of Morris Plains, who now is working on his bachelor’s degree at Stevens. The college initially was awarded $19,884 through the Stevens grant to support his last year at CCM. The college now has been presented with an additional $50,567 to continue the program.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to earn both an associate and bachelor’s degree and then to start work immediately on a career path that is certain to be rewarding on multiple levels,” said Dr. Anthony J. Iacono, president of CCM. “We are extremely grateful for the work of the Department of Information Technologies, specifically Professor Patricia Tamburelli and Chair Nancy Binowski, to obtain this financial support for CCM students.”
Cyber security jobs are expected to grow much faster than average compared to other industries over the next several years. Such jobs also pay well with the median annual wage for information security analysts being $92,600 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
CCM is a nationally recognized leader in cyber defense education. Early this year, the college was named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education through a program sponsored by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.
To obtain the designation, CCM needed to demonstrate that its cyber security curriculum is aligned with national standards, that the college contributes to providing a pipeline of professionals who can assist with protecting against cyber attacks, and that it is a resource for the community in the area of information security.
The college currently offers a certificate program in information security and an Associate in Applied Science in Information Technology with both a digital forensics and information security track. Also offered is an Associate in Science in Criminal Justice with a specialization in computer forensics.
