Two students, Alvine Patience Ntandu and Mbi Mbah Anchi, started GW’s Bachelor’s in Cybersecurity program this fall with scholarships through the National Science Foundation Scholarships for Service (NSF-SFS) Grant. The grant will provide them with full scholarships for two years, as well as living stipends.
They matriculated to GW from Prince George’s Community College (PGCC). They received two of the five scholarships being awarded this year for eligible students from PGCC or Northern Virginia and Anne Arundel Community Colleges.
“I felt very blessed and extremely grateful for having this scholarship,” said Mbi Mbah Anchi, scholarship recipient. “I was very surprised when I found out that I had gotten it, but I was very happy because I really wanted it. So far, I am loving the academic program and all my professors. I’m learning a lot of new things and gaining new skills. My professors are very talented, and I am learning a lot from them. Because they all work in the Cybersecurity field, they lecture about real life experiences to the class.”
They will join a distinctive group of GW graduates who completed their studies through the “GW CyberCorps: Scholarships for Service” program. Since 2002, 70 students have graduated with help from this program, earning degrees in computer science, electrical engineering, engineering management, forensic sciences, business administration, information systems technology management, national security studies, and public policy. They have gone on to work at numerous government agencies, national laboratories, and federally funded research and development corporations.
Federal funding provides full scholarships for students to study cybersecurity at GW for up to three years. After completing their coursework, students will help protect the nation's information infrastructure by working as security experts in a government agency for at least the amount of time they have been supported by this program.
"Receiving this scholarship was the best gift ever, and I do not intend to waste it,” said Alvine Patience Ntandu. “As a woman, this scholarship will also help me to transcend the gender inequality in my field. So far in my studies here at GW, I have gained knowledge and learned emerging practices on how to manage risk and implement security principles for information assurance. This is a great journey and I see a bright future ahead of me. Thanks to this wonderful scholarship, I cannot be just an observer, but also an active participant in the rapidly emerging trajectory of cybersecurity."
More information about scholarship eligibility requirements can be found on the GW Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute’s website. Students can apply for support for undergraduate or graduate programs and, like these recent scholarship recipients, opportunities are available for select students through the Community College Pathways Program.