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LSU received $2.4 million in scholarships from the National Science Foundation for American students in the cybersecurity program and is one of only six schools nationwide to receive this funding for the 2025 school year.
Undergraduate students each receive $27,000 per semester and graduate students receive $37,000 each semester. Golden G. Richard III, a professor at LSU and the director of the LSU Cyber Center and Applied Cybersecurity lab, works directly with the students.
“LSU cybersecurity students are not just excellent,” Richard said. “They’re sort of beyond excellent.”
The scholarship for service program gives cybersecurity students the money for their tuition in exchange for work at a federal agency of their choice for an equal number of years they were given funding. 31 students have gotten the award and 18 have since graduated.
Many students choose to stay at these federal jobs after their contracted time is over.
Thomas “Tre” Landaiche is a master’s student studying cybersecurity on the scholarship. Landaiche is thankful for the scholarship because it lets him focus primarily on the rigorous coursework required in cybersecurity.
“Money helps,” Landaiche said. “Specifically for me, it’s really a matter of time, and with income coming from my education itself, I don’t have to worry as much about getting a job outside school.”
LSU is a designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, a title more exclusive than SFS funding. While there are 80 SFS programs, there are only around 20 CAE-CO programs in the country.
“At LSU, our internal motto is that we’re creating absolute Earth-stomping cyber supermen and women,” Richard said. “That’s what [the] NSA has noticed.”
LSU cybersecurity fosters an environment of learning, with connections and resources worth more than the scholarship itself. It is a vital recruiting tool for getting the top technical talent in the United States.
“You might get a recruiter from one of the federal labs to come to your school and check out the students,” Richard said. “But when they send a recruiter to LSU, they send like five people – away from their research job at a national lab – to come chatter to LSU students.”
The cybersecurity program at LSU started in 2019 and has grown tremendously over the past decade. The program is very hands-on with less of a traditional lecture setting. Richard has worked to make the Cyber Lab feel immersive, with old Cathode Ray Tube televisions adorning the top shelf and a hardware tinkering station in the corner.
While a traditional lab may seem intimidating, LSU tries to be as welcoming as possible. From the lab mascot, Cecil, stationed on the wall with a Q*bert sound chip, to freshmen working on research projects with post-graduates.
Despite the rigorous coursework, the environment allows for students of all levels to thrive.
“The most important thing is [the scholarship] lets us pick and recruit amazing cybersecurity students,” Richard said.
