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About the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program

Recognizing the increasing dependence on information technology, the Department of Defense Information Assurance Scholarship Program (DoD/IASP) was established in 2001.  The goal of the program is to increase the number of students entering the field of Information Assurance (IA) thus provide more civilian employees better qualified to support the DoD information infrastructure for war fighting and information security purposes.

Through the program, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University will provide grants to undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in a field relevant to information assurance.

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What is Information Assurance?

For purposes of this program, the term Information Assurance encompasses the scientific, technical, and management disciplines required to ensure computer and network security including:

• System/network administration and operations

• Systems security engineering

• Information assurance systems and product acquisition

• Cryptography

• Threat and vulnerability assessment including risk management

• Web security

• Computer emergency response teams

• Information assurance training, education, and management

• Computer forensics

• Defensive information operations

Relevant academic disciplines with concentrations in information assurance, would include (but are not limited to) Information Systems, Software Engineering, Systems Analysis, Computer Science, Computer Programming, Computer Engineering, Data Base Administration, Mathematics, Biometrics, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Operations Research, and Business Management or Business Administration.

For undergraduates, the relevant degree programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte are the BA in Software and Information Systems and the BA or BS in Computer Science.  At North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University, the relevant degree program for undergraduates is the BS in Computer Science.

For graduates, the relevant degree programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte are the MS in Information Technology or the MS in Computer Science.  At North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University, the relevant degree program for graduates is the MS in Computer Science.

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Benefits

Students selected for the scholarship will receive:

·         The full cost of tuition, books, and required fees, including any out-of-state and graduate student fees. (Out of state tuition may be subject to overall funding limits).

·         A stipend to cover room, board, and other expenses in the amount of $10,000 per year for undergraduates or $15,000 per year for graduates.

·         Paid internships during summers or during breaks between school terms as appropriate to the individual's circumstances and the institution's calendar.

·         A sponsor who will maintain contact with the student during the scholarship period and who will facilitate the student's entry into internships and eventual DoD employment.

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Eligibility and Academic Requirements

Students who meet the following minimum criteria are eligible to apply:

• Rising junior or senior undergraduate, master's or doctoral candidate, or graduate certificate program student.

• U.S. citizen at the time of application.

• At least 18 years of age.

• Enrolled (or accepted for enrollment) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte or North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University.

• Have completed (or will have completed by September 2007) the first two years of an undergraduate degree program and be eligible to:

• Begin either the third or fourth year of an undergraduate degree program;

• Begin the first or second year of a master's degree program;

• Pursue doctoral studies; or

• Complete a graduate (post-baccalaureate) certificate program in information assurance.

• An overall GPA of 3.0 (on a 4-point scale) for all college and university courses attempted.

• Pursuing a course of study and/or have declared a major in one of the disciplines described above in What is Information Assurance.

Veterans are especially encouraged to apply.

Preference will be given to those students who will be enrolled for at least three semesters in order to have the necessary exposure to information security research.

During the summers while enrolled in the program, each student will be placed into an internship position at a Department of Defense agency.

Each student will be required to complete a security investigation questionnaire to initiate the process for a background investigation in preparation for their internships and as a condition of future employment with the Department of Defense.  Drug tests or other suitability processing will occur as appropriate.

While completing their academic requirements, undergraduate students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale.  Graduate students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.2 on a 4-point scale.

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Post-Graduation Requirements

Upon graduation, students will be employed by a Department of Defense agency as a full-time, permanent civilian employee for a period of time equal to the period of time the student received financial support under the DoD/IASP.

Students agree to accept assignments requiring travel or change of duty stations as interns or employees.  Individuals who voluntarily terminate employment before the end of the period of obligated service will be required to refund to the United States, in whole or in part, the cost of the educational assistance provided to them.

Information on obtaining security clearances is available on the Web at

• http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/security-clearance.asp

• http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/security/blsecuritymenu.htm

This information is not intended to be all inclusive, but to provide general guidance in determining if an individual will be eligible for a security clearance.

An opportunity also exists for Reserve and National Guard participation as an alternative to working for the DoD as a civilian.  The time frame for pay back under these scenarios differs given the nature of the work for the Reserves and National Guard.  The obligated service commitment will be considered to be two years of service for each year of scholarship, rather than “one-for-one” as it is for those participating in the DoD civilian workforce.

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Application Process

Each applicant to the DoD/IASP program must provide:

• A completed application (the form with instructions is available here, additional instructions are available here).

• Required documentation (details included in the instructions included with the application)

  • At least two recommendation letters

  • A resume

  • Official transcripts from all colleges and/or universities attended other than UNC Charlotte or NC A&T

  • Personal statement of purpose and description of goals and motivations to pursue a career in Information Assurance and computer security

  • List of recognitions, awards, and honors

  • Proof of Veteran status, if claimed

Full application material must be received before Friday, February 9, 2007.  Please mail or deliver application packages to:

DoD/IASP  c/o Bruce Long
Department of Software and Information Systems

Woodward Hall, Room 341
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

9201 University City Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28223

Digital versions of the application materials may be sent to nblong@uncc.edu. Please include on the Subject line DoD/IASP Application.  Any document requiring a student signature cannot be accepted in digital form.

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Criteria for Selection

Candidates will be evaluated based on:

•  Meeting the minimum eligibility requirements.

• Potential for academic success and fulfillment of degree requirements.

• Demonstrated leadership, participation in team activities, prior social service, and/or evidence of creative and independent thinking and/or acting.

• Letters of recommendation.

• Quality of personal statement.

Only the most qualified students will be recommended for selection by the institution.  Final selection is determined by the Department of Defense.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I apply if I have an Associate's degree? Having an Associate's degree is not disqualifying.  However, it is not sufficient either.  To apply you must be admitted to one of the graduate or undergraduate 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. So 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.

• What would be the starting salary for someone graduating from this program? Persons with a Bachelor's degree may be appointed as high as a GS-7.  Persons with Master's degree may be appointed at the GS-9 level or above.  The actual appointment depends on the individual's knowledge, skills, and abilities.  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 application instructions fully describe the factors that should be addressed by letters of recommendation.

• Can I use the same reference letters for graduate school application as well as 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.

• If I have questions who should I contact?  Address all questions or correspondence to Bruce Long at nblong@uncc.edu or call 704-687-8441.

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Information Assurance Research at UNC Charlotte and NC A&T State University

The faculty at UNC Charlotte and North Carolina A&T are engaged in a number of exciting research projects.  The following is a partial list:

• Access control policy management.  Several researchers are collaborating to develop 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 project explores 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 project 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 work, 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 savings 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 is 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.   This project is performing 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.