Eight Students Selected for Highly Competitive NSF CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service Program

Eight Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) students have recently begun their journey as members of the elite CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) Program during fall 2023 through the NJIT Secure Computing Initiative (SCI), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Each recipient has been awarded a scholarship covering full tuition and fees for up to three years beginning as a junior, senior or first year master’s student towards a master's degree in either Cybersecurity and Privacy or IT Administration and Security, along with an annual $27,000 – $37,000 stipend and allowance of up to $6,000 for professional development. In return, participants must successfully maintain a high academic standing, complete summer internships and work full-time in a cybersecurity-related role in the U.S. Government for each year they have been part of the program.

The second edition of this program is supported through a $4.6 million dollar NSF grant for 2021-2026 and benefits from YWCC’s designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the NSA/DHS.

The program’s mission critical objective is to cultivate future cybersecurity leaders and innovators by recruiting, training and placing qualified students in government jobs where the need continues to grow exponentially.

Qualifying students may apply to the program once per year in March, and the top candidates are selected following a rigorous review and interview process.

YWCC is proud to announce the fall 2023 cohort, selected from an impressive applicant pool:

Logan DesRochers ’23 (Information Technology), Ian Hanna ’24 (Information Technology), Jillian Jacinto ’24 (Computer Science), Patrick Krawczyk ’23 (Computer Science), and Alfred Simpson ’24 (Information Technology), will pursue the M.S. in Cybersecurity and Privacy; Tyrell Michuki ’23 (Information Technology), Aman Grover ’23 (Information Technology), and Daniel Marriello ’24 (Information Technology), have chosen the M.S. in IT Administration and Security.

Prof. Cristian Borcea of the Computer Science department, who co-directs the program, explained that beyond a good GPA and prior exposure to cybersecurity, faculty look for evidence of strong social skills, self-motivation and excellence in teamwork, the commitment to fully embrace and comprehend the initiative, and a dedication to serving the country.

A passion for using technology to defend and protect their country is what resonated most with the students, particularly for Logan DesRochers, whose grandfather fought in Vietnam and great grandfather was in, and came home from, the Battle of Normandy during World War II.

For Aman Grover, Tyrell Michuki and Al Simpson, the first in their families who will earn a graduate degree (Simpson and Michuki are also first-generation college students), the honor means even more. Grover and Michuki are first-generation U.S. citizens whose families are from India and Kenya respectively. As the oldest in the cohort, Simpson began his academic career later in life, initially choosing to pursue journalism, and working in private sales. However, according to him, spending his free time learning about security and technology as a teen for fun was an indication that perhaps his true talent lay in computing instead of writing. “I also wanted to do more than work to make for-profits richer,” he added.

The desire to make a difference beyond contributing to profit-driven commerce is also a common thread among the cohort. Tyrell Michuki originally had his sights set on a job “with the potential to earn up to $200k,” but was quick to pivot once he found out he had been accepted into the SFS program one week after graduation from his undergraduate program in May.

“My path to becoming part of [SFS] was not traditional. My mom envisioned me attending NJIT as we drove past campus one day during high school. But even after I got here, I still was not accepted to the program when I applied the first time in my junior year, due to me misinterpreting a question. Thanks to a chance interaction with Dr. [Vincent] Oria, (chair of the department of Computer Science and the Principal Investigator of the SFS program) during the spring JerseyCTF competition, he allowed me to re-send my application,” said Michuki.

The JerseyCTF competition acted as a gateway for other students to become CyberCorps members as well, including Daniel Marriello and Patrick Krawczyk. Marriello’s team won third prize in the student division, and thinks he may have scored a few extra points during his interview when Dr. Borcea gave him thumbs up for the win.

Ian Hanna already has a head start in his cybersecurity pursuits, having recently interned with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. over the summer. He and Simpson were also part of the JerseyCTF planning team, coordinated by the student chapter of Association of Computing Machinery, the NJIT Information and Cybersecurity Club (NICC), of which Simpson is president, and SCI.

“My goal was to work in government whether or not I was part of SFS or paid as an intern. The experience in government is unmatched,” Hanna said.

Beyond the goal of preserving national security, however, many in the cohort simply were attracted to the work itself. Jillian Jacinto has a penchant for improving existing systems, especially in real-world situations “over movies.” Krawczyk loves “picking things apart and getting into the nitty gritty.”

The new members of CyberCorps are already enjoying the bi-weekly meetings where valuable connections to fellow students, faculty and people from industry are being made. They additionally look forward to the prospect of using their professional development funds to attend conferences and network with like-minded people, obtain certifications, and explore the latest innovations in the field.

In November, the group will attend SFSCon, which is sponsored by NSF CyberCorps SFS program and funded by Cal Poly Pomona’s PolySec Lab. SFSCon is the first and only hands-on cybersecurity training and professional development event exclusively involving CyberCorps SFS schools across the nation since 2017.

Jacinto observed, “When I showed up at an info session for the program, I was intimidated because I was the only woman there.” She now has an interest in being a role model for other women to enter technology fields.

Simpson likens his role, and that of his fellow SFS recipients, to planting seeds that will benefit the society ahead of them.

Now it’s time for CyberCorps cohort 2023 to dig in and let the real work begin.