Vice President Biden Announces $25 Million Grant to HBCUs for Cybersecurity Education

On January 15th, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and White House Science Advisor John Holdren traveled to Norfolk State University (NSU) to announce their latest efforts in improving cybersecurity education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Announcing a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy to select HBCUs, Vice President Biden disclosed details about the latest donation during a roundtable discussion with cybersecurity leaders and students at NSU. The grant will expand over the next five years and will build on the President’s announcement earlier this week on the need to fill the growing demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals in the job market, while also diversifying talent in the STEM fields.

With the demand for cybersecurity jobs growing 12 times faster than the U.S. job market, the Department of Energy is using their grant money to establish the Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline Consortium with funding from the Minority Serving Institutions Partnerships Program. The focus of the Minority Serving Institutions Partnerships Program is to create a pipeline of talent from minority-serving institutions to DOE labs, with a mix of research and mentoring from DOE scientists.

Thanks to the DOE grant, the Cybersecurity Workforce Pipeline Consortium will bring together 13 HBCUs, two DOE labs, and the Charleston County School District in an effort to create a strong pool of students focused on issues pertaining to cybersecurity. Through the consortium, students will be able to collaborate with any of the participating schools or labs to create career paths and degree options that will prepare them to be effective leaders in the workforce.

Below is a full list of institutions and labs participating in the program:

– Norfolk State University (lead school)

– Clark Atlanta University

– Paine College

– Bowie State University

– North Carolina A&T University

– Allen University

– Benedict College

– Claflin University

– Denmark Technical College

-Morris College

– South Carolina State University

– Voorhees College

– Charleston County School District

– University of the Virgin Islands

– Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

– Sandia National Laboratory