2016 Harold F. Tipton Memorial Scholarship Recipient

Cybersecurity professionals are in high demand and it’s projected to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Part of the mission of the Center for Cyber Safety and Education, (formerly the (ISC)² Foundation), is to provide scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who are pursuing careers in the field of information security.

In 2016, the Center awarded scholarships to 44 students worldwide. The undergraduate recipients were invited to apply for the Harold F. Tipton Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded to an aspiring information security student, to help provide a pathway to the profession. The prestigious scholarship was named after the late information security industry pioneer and (ISC)² co-founder, Harold “Hal” F. Tipton, who is often referred to as “the grandfather of the CISSP^®.”

The 2016 recipient of the Harold F. Tipton Memorial Scholarship is Erwin Karincic, an undergraduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Karincic’s passion for technology started when he was only seven years old, growing up in Bosnia. His computer broke and without anyone to fix it, Karincic bought a hard drive and operating system, then figured out how to fix it himself. Immigrating to the United States in 2014, he learned English and began excelling academically, enrolling in college-level courses as a high school student. He is currently studying computer engineering at VCU and plans to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

“The scholarship will help me to alleviate my financial burden during my studies and assist with research on new and improved ways to remove vulnerabilities with systems, and secure the entire infrastructure,” said Karincic. “In the near future, I plan to pursue CISSP certification in order to be globally recognized as one of the best information security leaders. This award will also allow me to spend more time mentoring other students, to help them grow and succeed in the cybersecurity field which all leads to the common goal of a safe cyberspace.”

Scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students are offered throughout the year through the Center for Cyber Safety and Education. Women’s Scholarship applications are now open. The application period for Undergraduate Scholarships begins February 15, and Graduate Scholarships on February 28.

For more information and to apply, please visit www.iamcybersafe.com/scholarships

[(ISC)² Blog]