Student is 1 of 11 Women to Receive National Scholarship

09/30/2014 11:40 AM

Bradley University Senior, Christa Cox from Lowpoint, Illinois is one of only 11 women nationwide to receive the “Scholarship for Women Studying Information Security (SWSIS)” from HP (Hewlett Packard).  Cox is a senior Computer Science (Software/ Web & Comp Security) major at Bradley University.  

Cox is the only woman in Illinois to receive the award.  Other recipients represent the following schools:  

• California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
• California State University, Northridge
• Columbia University
• Columbus State University
• Eastern Michigan University
• National University
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• University of Maryland Baltimore County
• University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Wellesley College

HP announced the scholarship program earlier this year as part of a larger effort to improve IT security education after it was reported that there is a tremendous gap in this industry, with an estimated 40% of available information security positions in the United States are unfilled.  Bradley recently added a Software, Web and Computer Security concentration after recognizing that gap.  Another gap identified is that Women only make up 20% of the information security workforce and the organizations involved in the scholarship hope these awards will address that.   

Students accepted into the scholarship program have an opportunity to intern at HP as well as attend national conferences and workshops.  Cox received $5000.