NYU Tandon and Bridgewater Associates Tackle Acute Shortage of Minority Groups in Cybersecurity

New Scholarships for Cyber Fellows Online Master’s Degree Aim to Widen Career Opportunities in a High-Demand Field

The numbers speak for themselves:

• The shortfall of cybersecurity experts will grow to 1.8 million worldwide by 2022.
• Already, the United States needs 200,000 more than are available.
• Today’s information security workforce – 89 percent male and 68.5 percent white – leaves untapped a huge talent pool.

On August 31, two leading cybersecurity educational and financial institutions will take steps to widen that pipeline. The NYU Tandon School of Engineering will award an initial round of scholarships, funded by Bridgewater Associates, a global leader in institutional portfolio management and the largest hedge fund in the world, to students from under-represented minority groups enrolled in its groundbreaking Cyber Fellows online master’s degree program.

The presentation by Bridgewater will take place during a welcome event for the inaugural cohort of 109 New York Cyber Fellows enrolled in NYU Tandon’s unique, affordable online cyber security master’s degree program developed with New York City Cyber Command (NYC3) and supported by elite businesses. The Cyber Fellows mission – to address the acute shortage of highly trained technical security professionals – will be advanced by the Bridgewater Scholarships, which are accompanied by Bridgewater’s commitment to ensure that the scholarship students spend time with experts in the field and to provide additional professional opportunities.

Forty percent of the first cohort of Cyber Fellows identify as members of underrepresented groups, including women, but diversity remains a major challenge – and opportunity.

“We will welcome our partners – the first Cyber Fellows, industry advisors, and New York City – in this unique initiative to quickly scale up the number of technical experts capable of protecting our personal lives, critical infrastructure, and national security,” said Professor Nasir Memon, associate dean for online learning. “The technology behind online learning creates an opportunity like never before to quickly educate highly skilled computer scientists, and the support from Bridgewater Associates will open opportunities to groups that are often excluded.”

“The Bridgewater Scholarship represents a meaningful alliance between Bridgewater Associates and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering with the shared goal of advancing the knowledge and careers of underrepresented minority students in cybersecurity,” said Bridgewater Chief Security Officer Richard Falkenrath. “We are delighted to be involved in this significant program and to present the scholarship to this year’s winners. ”

“The under-participation by large segments of our society represents a loss of opportunity for individuals, a loss of talent in the workforce, and a loss of creativity in shaping the future of cybersecurity,” said International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals President Aric K. Perminter. “Not only is it a basic equity issue, but it threatens our global economic viability as a nation. The Bridgewater Scholarship underscores the importance of our mission to provide innovative, effective and timely solutions to the cybersecurity demands of employers.”

Five Bridgewater Scholarships will be awarded to the initial cohort, with 25 more slated for the 2019 academic year. They will halve the tuition paid for the Cyber Fellows program – already one of the most affordable master’s degree programs in the field, thanks to scholarships of 75 percent from New York University. With the combined scholarships from NYUand Bridgewater, this year’s Bridgewater Scholarship winners will pay only $7,500 in tuition for the entire master’s degree program.