Eight Marymount University students were among 600 attendees from across the country at the annual CyberCorps Scholarship for Service Job Fair on Jan. 10-12 in Washington, D.C. The event celebrates grant recipients who have agreed to work in government-related cybersecurity upon graduation.
Sen Tim Kaine, (D-Virginia) was a lunchtime speaker and afterward met privately with faculty and students from the six Virginia universities who received National Science Foundation scholarship grants. He provided insight into Senate initiatives on cryptography.
Kaine has worked to ensure community college students were eligible for the awards. Murphy said about half of MU’s undergraduates students in cybersecurity had transferred from community colleges — most from Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA).
“We have a very close relationship with NOVA and have worked very hard on our articulation agreements so students in their programs can seamlessly transfer to Marymount to complete their degrees,” Murphy said.
“It was important to be participate in this job fair because the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service is an elite program and this lets our students know they’re part of an elite government force,” she added.
Designed to increase the number of federal cybersecurity professionals protecting the critical information infrastructure, the program provides full tuition and other benefits in exchange for a commitment to work in government-related cybersecurity for a period equal in length to the scholarship parameters.
Several MU students had arranged interviews beforehand, others had them at the job fair
and a few received conditional job offers pending their security clearances, Murphy said.
Marymount University is an independent, coeducational Catholic university offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in a wide range of disciplines.
Photo caption
The annual CyberCorps Scholarship for Service Job Fair was held Jan. 10-12 in Washington, D.C. Pictured are Marymount University student Edward Espinal, Kandis Lawrence and Dr. Margaret Leary of George Washington University, MU’s Amy Thomas and Dr. Diane Murphy, Sen. Tim Kaine, and Austin Strand and Dr. Michelle Liu of Marymount.
