February 08, 2016

Seven students earn cybersecurity scholarship

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Seven students from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and regional community colleges are recipients of a National Security Agency grant-funded scholarship that will prepare them for careers in cybersecurity.

Each student is receiving a $1,000 scholarship from the Southern Illinois Collegiate Cyber Co-op, which includes SIU’s School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies and seven regional community colleges. A second round will start this month, and another eight students will earn $1,000 scholarships for completing required cyber security exercises and essays. 

Tom Imboden, associate professor in the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies, said the program creates an incentive for students to study cybersecurity and pursue that as a career field. Applicants are required to invest time and effort completing a set of five security and related exercises to be eligible for scholarship consideration. All students who apply learn entry-level security skills as part of the application process, giving them a head start in their studies.

Community colleges involved are: John A. Logan College, Carterville; Kaskaskia College, Centralia; Lake Land College, Mattoon; Rend Lake College, Ina; Shawnee Community College, Ullin; Southeastern Illinois College, Harrisburg, and Southwestern Illinois College, Belleville.

First-round scholarship recipients, listed by hometown, major if known, and institution, are:

  • Buffalo Grove: Bryan McCarthy, junior, information systems technologies, SIU Carbondale
  • Chicago: Joel Carter, senior, information systems technologies, SIU Carbondale
  • Goreville: Carl Stiff, Shawnee Community College, Goreville
  • Lawrenceville: Colten Gibbons, senior, information systems technologies, SIU Carbondale
  • Mattoon: Mark Blume, Lake Land College
  • Morris: Steven Mangano, senior, information systems technologies, SIU Carbondale
  • Greenville: Damik Sabatos, Kaskaskia College

In 2011, the university’s School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies earned the designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education from the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA.

SIU also has nearly a decade of providing cyber security educational opportunities and participating in collegiate cyber defense competitions. For more information on the scholarship program, visit isat.siu.edu .