The Cyber Corps Federal Scholarship is a prestigious program that fully funds deserving students in their course of study. Funded by the National Science Foundation, it assists them in becoming what the scholarship for service's website calls "federal information assurance professionals." In addition to fully funding all tuition, the cyber corps scholarship also gives its recipients a generous stipend that ranges between $8,000 and $12,000. It has been instrumental in aiding digital forensic examiners from the University of Tulsa, Georgia Tech, as well as many others. One of the cons of seeking this scholarship are the stringent requirements, like being able to acquire top-secret security clearance, which usually means a clean record when it comes to personal finances and criminal history. One disadvantage is the requirement to work for the federal government for a set number of years, when salaries in the private sector easily outpace those in federal agencies.
Cyber Corps Federal Scholarship
Scholarship for Service Program Office
8610 Broadway, Suite 305
San Antonio, TX 78217-6352
You can apply for an award in the UK as an Early Career Fellow in Digital Forensics that is offered at Oxford Brookes University -- School of Technology. It has a fixed term of three years, with a starting salary of around $28,000 and rising to $30,000. The interview date is March 17, 2010. Your duties as a research fellow are to conduct independent research in the area you specialize and publish. It requires a PhD in a relevant discipline (such as computer science). One disadvantage is the pay cut, since specialists in digital forensics can easily make $50,000 in their first year.
Oxford Brookes University -- School of Technology
Early Career Fellow in Digital Forensics
Headington Campus
Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1865 741111
Scholarships also exist for working professionals attending conferences in the field. For instance, the Techno Forensics & Digital Investigations Conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, offers scholarships to fund the attendance at their conference every year. Digital Forensics Investigation News sponsors a limited number of these scholarships for the conference. With a current registration price of $1,095, and only 1,100 people every year, it is a very exclusive ticket, which makes the scholarships on offer all the more coveted. To register, use the following address.
Techno Forensics & Digital Investigations Conference
Myrtle Beach, SC
Joy Foster
NIST
Office of the Chief International and Academic Affairs
Administration (101), Room A217
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1090
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1090
email: [email protected]
www.techsec.com/conferences/register.cgi?c=TF-2009