·
Research: Each student will be matched to a on-going research project
under the direction of an IA faculty member.
Requirements and Eligibility
The
eligibility criteria
are:
·
A United States citizen.
· Either
a full-time graduate
student within two years of graduation at the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte or North Carolina A&T State University with either a Master's degree
in Information Technology or Computer Science, or a qualified rising junior or
senior at UNC Charlotte (more details below in Criteria for
Selection).
· Preferences
will be given to those students who will be in the program for at least
three semesters in order to have the necessary exposure to information
security research.
· Each
student must meet selection criteria for federal employment. Final job
placement may require a security clearance, so each scholarship recipient
may be required to undergo the background investigation required to obtain
such clearances.
· During
the summers while enrolled in the program, each student will be responsible for
securing an internship position at a federal agency. Numerous resources
are available to assist students in identifying and applying for internships.
·
Upon
graduation, each student will be required to work in a qualified information
assurance position for a federal agency.
The work requirement time period matches the supported time period. For
example, a full two-year scholarship requires two years of federal employment.
Each student is responsible for identifying, applying for, and securing a
qualified position. Numerous resources are available, including the
assistance of the Office or Personnel Management (OPM) which oversees permanent
placement for scholarship students.
Application Process and Deadlines
Each
applicant to the SFS program should provide the following:
- Completed
application form.
-
Statement
of purpose and description of goals and motivations to pursue a career
in Information Assurance and computer security.
-
Official transcripts of all college work outside of UNC
Charlotte or NC A&T.
-
Recommendation
letters from at least two university faculty members familiar with the student's background. The
faculty members may be from UNC Charlotte or another institution.
The application deadline is June 15, 2005 for admission to the Fall semester (beginning August, 2005).
All
applicants should
send (or have sent) all of the information listed above to:
Scholarship for Service c/o Bruce Long
Department of Software and Information Systems
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201
University City Blvd.
Charlotte,
NC 28223.
Electronic
submissions to nblong@uncc.edu are
acceptable as well. Please include as the Subject line "SFS Application".
Questions may be directed to Bruce Long,
704-687-3932 or to nblong@uncc.edu.
Criteria for Selection
The
selection criteria are as follows:
· Undergraduate
Students
o United
States citizen.
o
Junior (60 hours) or Senior (90 hours) standing at UNC Charlotte as of the
Spring semester 2005.
o
At
least a 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.
o Recommendation
letters from at least two faculty members.
o Evaluation
of the student's potential for success in the IA program.
· Graduate
Students
o United
States citizen.
o Official
acceptance into the graduate program by either UNC Charlotte or NC A&T State University.
o Expected
graduation with MS degree in either Information Technology or Computer
Science within two years.
o
At
least a 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.
o Evaluation
of the student’s potential for success in the IA program.
In
addition, we will consider the following criteria for both undergraduate
and graduate candidates:
·
Commitment
to participate in summer service and service following degree completion
according to the guidelines of the SFS program.
·
Commitment
to participate in assessment activities after their scholarship and required
federal service has ended.
· Demonstrated
leadership, participation in team activities, prior social service, and/or
evidence of creative and independent thinking and/or acting.
Competition is expected to be
significant. Only the most qualified students will be selected.
Selection Process
A
panel of IA faculty from UNC Charlotte and NC A&T State University
will review all applications and interview likely candidates, either in
person or by telephone. The selection process will end when the panel selects
the most qualified students to be admitted on the basis of application
data and the interview. During this selection process, the students’ interests,
goals, and requests will be used to match each scholarship student with
an appropriate faculty mentor.
Special Activities and Programs for SFS Students
Key
components of the SFS program, in addition to the normal classroom and
laboratory experiences contained in the graduate curricula, are:
· Faculty
with considerable experience in working with undergraduate and graduate
students in a teaching and research environment.
· Immediate
integration
of students in existing research programs in information assurance.
· A
Cyber Research Seminar emphasizing critical thinking, leadership,
presentation, and publication skills.
· As
a complement to hands-on research, a series of Information Security and
Privacy seminars will allow students to interact with experts in the
field of information assurance.
· An
internship workshop will be held annually. Students will present
their internship experiences.
· Development
of professional skills through lectures, mentoring, a training series,
and experience.
· The
service aspect, coordinated by OPM, where students will serve in
a government agency during the summers while they are enrolled in the SFS
program. This service experience will give them an opportunity to solve
specific real problems in information assurance.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
·
Can
I apply if I have an Associate's degree?
No, you must be an undergraduate junior or senior or be admitted to one of the graduate programs listed in the
selection criteria.
· Am
I required to work for two years even if I can obtain my degree faster?
No. The work requirement is a one-for-one match between the time you are
supported and the time you are asked to work. For example, if you are supported for
three semesters, then you would have a work obligation of one and a half
years.
· Can
I apply for this program if I am interested in a PhD degree in computer
science? No.
Only Bachelor's and Master's degrees are available through this program.
· Will
it be possible to complete the service obligation at any one of the national
laboratories, such as INEEL?
No. The national labs are all run by contractors and as such the employees
at the labs are contractor employees and not federal employees. The obligation
associated with this program is a federal employment obligation.
·
What
would be the starting salary for someone graduating from this program?
Persons with a Bachelor's degree are typically employed at least at the GS-7
level. Students with Master's degrees may be appointed at the GS-9 level.
Higher civil service levels and steps may be applicable depending on prior
experience and other factors. The hiring agency makes the determination
about the civil service pay grade and step. Federal
pay rates vary depending on the location where the person works. Also,
special pay rates have been created for IT-related jobs. These
rates may be viewed at http://www.opm.gov/oca/02tables/SSR/index.htm.
· What
should the letters of recommendations include?
The faculty panel will evaluate each applicant based on the following criteria:
problem identification and analysis; effective presentation; effective
written communications; response to people’s needs, feelings, and capabilities
(e.g. service at K-12 schools). The faculty panels seeks input from a variety
of sources including the reference letters.
·
Can
I use the same reference letters for my graduate school application as well
as for the scholarship application?
Yes. Please indicate in your scholarship application that you would like
to use the same reference letters as your graduate application. We will
obtain these letters from the graduate school.
Security and Information Assurance Research at
UNC Charlotte and NC A&T State University
The following illustrate some
of the many on-going research projects at UNC Charlotte and North Carolina A&T
State university
Access
control policy management. This
research is a collaboration between several researchers and aims at developing
a framework for large/multiple enterprises to manage access control policies.
The approach integrates role-based access control, delegation, distributed
trust management, PMI and PKI.
Authentication
architectures for healthcare applications. This
research aims at the development of a robust, easy-to-use, scalable authentication
architecture to be used for strong authentication. Although it is targeted
for health care applications, many aspects of the architecture are generic
and can be used by other types of applications as well.
Authentication
protocols for token-based wearable devices. This
research is looking at a new, patented approach to wireless-based strong
user authentication based on wearable communication devices. It enables
the development of innovative wireless applications that can protect the
privacy of users in a wireless communication environment.
Efficient
algorithms for encryption and digital signature. Representing
a significant improvement over previous works, this research has resulted
a new class of algorithms and protocols that combine encryption and digital
signature into a single algorithm. It can be applied with a variety of
public-key encryption techniques and results in very significant savings
in computing time. One of the promising applications of this patented approach
is that it can be used in wireless communication with significant saving
in power consumption over traditional methods.
Information
security architecture for collaborative working environments. This
research investigates alternative security models and architectures for
collaborative working environments, including workflow and context-rich
information environments.
Modular
intrusion detection. The
focus of this research seeks to create a new modular paradigm for intrusion
detection. One key characteristic is that it will be extremely scalable,
ranging from a home-based network to large networks spanning multiple geographical
locations.
Security
for resource constrained computing. A
security extension to KVM (a micro version of Java) for PDAs running on
the Palm operating system has been developed. Faculty and students are
currently investigating new and efficient information security techniques
for the next generation of hand-held devices.
Survivability
mechanisms for mobile networks. Performs
critical analysis of protocol behavior for both cellular and ad hoc network
architectures. The objective is to develop a realistic test bed to assess
how mobile networks can continue to operate under various attack/disaster
scenarios
Useful Web Links
·
Academic
program links:
o Laboratory
of Information Integration, Security and Privacy at UNC Charlotte
o Master's
of Science of Information Technology at UNC Charlotte
(Click on 'MS Program')
o
Master's
of Science in Computer Science at UNC Charlotte
o
Master's
of Science in Computer Science at NC A&T State University
o Graduate
studies at UNC Charlotte at UNC Charlotte
o Download
UNC Charlotte graduate application forms
o
Bachelor of Arts in Software & Information Systems at UNC Charlotte
o
Undergraduate Admissions at UNC Charlotte
· Links
to organizations responsible for SFS operations and to other SFS recipients:
o The
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
o List
of all the institutions with Scholarship for Service awards
·
Links to the National Science Foundation's Scholarship for Service program:
o
The
NSF Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service program