Heydari Grant

Heydari Grant

NSF awards $623,000 for Cybersecurity Education and Research

The National Science Foundation has awarded $622,694 to Computer Science (CS) Assistant Professor Vahid Heydari, Ph.D., the Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research. Professor Heydari received this award for his efforts enhancing the cybersecurity education and developing a superior cybersecurity workforce for the nation. The award provides a stipend and full tuition to four outstanding undergraduate students enrolled in the accelerated Computer Science BS/MS program with the study focus on Cybersecurity. The recipients of the award will become the next generation of cybersecurity professionals who will help realize the cybersecurity mission for federal, state, local, and tribal governments. This program also helps Dr. Heydari’s plan to develop a cybersecurity talent pipeline in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

“Since I joined Rowan two years ago, I have been actively working with the CS faculty on redesigning the cybersecurity program based on national standards. I started the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research, Cybersecurity Club, and Cybersecurity Research Lab. This is a huge undertaking that could not have been done by one person, all the computer science faculty and the institutional leaders were very supportive of my initiatives. One of our goals is to take a leadership role in the development and expansion of cybersecurity education and research activities in the South Jersey region,” says Dr. Heydari.