CyberCorps Program Shared Curricular Resources For Other Institutions

Program Architecture Documents

• Program Website 
• Four-Pathway Access Model Description  – Detailed descriptions of these pathways:

• URI traditional Cybersecurity Masters (PSM) degree entry pathway
• URI 4+1 Accelerated Bachelors To Masters entry pathway for CS students
• URI OnRamp Program pathway for students with a Bachelor’s from non-computing majors 
• URI OnRamp + ABM program for URI students expecting a non-technical major to enter the PSM program

• URI CyberCorps SFS Forgivable Loan Template – Template for the forgivable loan agreement CyberCorps scholars sign with university and the federal government.
• Annual SFS PI Meeting Presentation (2025): Multiple Recruitment Pathways Approach  Slides presented by PI Fay-Wolfe at the 2025 CyberCorps SFS PI Meeting on the four-pathway access model and outcomes
• Annual SFS PI Meeting Presentation (2026): Integrating AI into Cybersecurity Education   Slides presented at the 2026 CyberCorps SFS PI Meeting on the CyberAI curriculum and CyberAICorps program design

Curriculum Materials

URI’s Professional Science Master’s (PSM) in Cybersecurity provides the academic foundation for CyberCorps scholars. The CyberAI track, launching Fall 2026, adds two specialized courses at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. All course materials are designed around NIST NICE Workforce Framework job categories and NSA CAE knowledge units.

CyberAI Track

URI’s CyberAI track within the PSM in Cybersecurity is designed to meet NSA CAE CyberAI Knowledge Units and prepares students for CompTIA SecAI+ certification. The two CyberAI courses replace two of the four PSM elective slots, adding no time to degree.

• CSC 592 Securing AI Systems — Syllabus –  Launched Fall 2025. Security of machine learning systems: evasion attacks, adversarial threat modeling, privacy-preserving inference, defenses including adversarial training. Python-based applied labs. Developed and taught by Co-PI Mahmood.

• CSC 492 Applied AI in Cybersecurity — Syllabus   Launching Fall 2026. AI-driven threat detection, log and network traffic analysis, NLP for threat intelligence, AI-assisted incident response, LLM-based cybersecurity workflows. Uses URI virtual machine environments.
• Math4AI Preparatory Course Math4AI is a co-developed bridge course (URI CS + URI Mathematics Department) providing cybersecurity students the mathematical background required for AI coursework: selective content from Calculus I–III, discrete math, statistics, and linear algebra. It is completed before matriculation and adds no time to the two-year scholarship period.

CSF 505 CyberCorps Professional Development Seminar

CSF 505 is the organizational and motivational backbone of URI’s CyberCorps/CyberAICorps program. Developed and continuously refined over five years, it is organized around eight integrated activity modules, each directly grounded in preparation for government cybersecurity and CyberAI careers. Scholars take CSF 505 each Fall and Spring semester for four semesters (2 credits each).

Syllabus and Course-Level Documents

• CSF 505 Master Syllabus (all 4 semesters)  Complete syllabus including module schedule, grading schema, activity journal requirements, and learning outcomes
• CSF 505 Scholar Activity Journal Template  (template) Template used by scholars throughout the year to document job search activities, competitions, professional development, and community outreach

CSF 505 Activity Modules Materials

 CSF 505 Federal Job Search Preparation

• Federal Resumes – guidelines, peer review, applicant tracking system (ATS) formatting, resume checklist.
  • Federal Resume Slides 
  • Resume Peer-Review Check List
  • ATS Review Slides
    
• Internship Presentation – Returning SFS scholars give a short talk on their summer internship agency placements
  • Activity directions
    
• Exploring NICE Workroles – Scholars learn to describe the components of the NICE Framework and identify NICE work roles for a given position description
  • Discussion slides 
  • Activity directions 
  • Example presentation slides 

CSF 505 Cybersecurity and AI Competition Training

• CyberForce Competition Preparation – Scholars prepare for Cyberforce competition by pre-hardening systems in the weeks leading up to the competition, and studying the services present in competition virtual machines
  • CyberForce 101 Library
    
• National Cyber League (NCL) Challenge Workshops – Scholars choose an NCL challenge category and develop a short workshop to train peers on tools, tactics and techniques to solve similar challenges. Scholars are required to present their talk to peers for feedback, and then deliver to a wider audience, such as the Cyber Club
  • Activity directions  
  • Example presentation 

CSF 505 Job Fair Preparation and Review

• Interview Preparation – Discussion of the types of interviews, strategies, and peer practice sessions
  • Discussion slides 
  • Example interview questions worksheet 
  • Peer interview scoring rubric worksheet
    
• The Elevator Pitch – Tips for networking and elevator pitches at a career fairs
  • Discussion slides 

CSF 505 Government Cybersecurity Frameworks, Standards, and AI Policy

• Software Audit using FedRAMP Projects – Students the role of acquiring a hypothetical software vendor for agency use, and follow the FedRAMP process to audit the security of the vendor, with peers acting at the ATO board
  • Discussion slides 
  • Presentation template  

CSF 505 Current Research in Cybersecurity and CyberAI

• Following Industry News & Trends – Discussion of cybersecurity industry news is often a part of the SFS scholar seminar. Scholars are encouraged to keep up to date on emerging technologies, threats and trends in cybersecurity
  • Discussion slides 

CSF 505 Certification Preparation

• Overview of Cybersecurity Industry Certifications – An overview of industry certifications in Cybersecurity, comparing knowledge domains, and strategies for studying and test taking
  • Slides

CSF 505 Cyber Incident Presentations

• Lessons Learned from Cybersecurity Incidents – Scholars select a high profile cybersecurity breach and present takeaways from the event
  • Activity directions 

CSF 505 K–12 Community Outreach and Public Service

• CS4RI Summit Workshops – Scholars deliver workshops to inspire 500+ high school students visiting at the twice-annual Computer Science for Rhode Island Summit
  • Workshop Example: Encryption Concepts with Caesar Cipher (e.g., ROT13)
    
• Scholar K12 CS/Cyber Career Talk – Template for a career talk delivered by a recent program alumni
  • Talk slides 

OnRamp To Cybersecurity Bridge Program

The OnRamp To Cybersecurity bridge program, funded by a supplement to URI’s current NSF CyberCorps SFS award, enables career changers from any undergraduate field (business, criminal justice, natural sciences, social sciences, and more) to enter URI’s Professional Science Master’s in Cybersecurity. It consists of three undergraduate-level courses taken before PSM matriculation.

Statewide NCAE Network and Mentoring Model

Under the current CyberCorps award, URI mentored the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), Rhode Island College (RIC), and Johnson and Wales University (JWU) to NSA/DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) designation. All three now serve as active CyberAICorps recruitment pipelines, collectively serving over 200 additional cybersecurity students annually.

Licensing and AttributionAll materials (on this site are released under Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).Attribution: University of Rhode Island Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Center (DFCSC), NSF Award #2042416.We ask that you notify us if you adopt or adapt these materials; we would love to learn how they are used and share outcomes.