New York City, NY, March 17, 2015 – Lynx Technology Partners (Lynx), today announced the company will be offering an undergraduate endowment fellowship for the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals (ICMCP). The Aric K. Perminter Endowment Fellowship will be made possible through a grant from the Lynx Technology Partners Foundation to help talented women and minority students advance in their cybersecurity studies. The award provides $5,000 for selected students over 2 years in their undergraduate degree programs.
“There is a tremendous gap in representation among women and minorities in cybersecurity. With our endowment we are taking a first step in trying to help bridge that gap by providing our youth the ability to enter fields they may have not been able to go into for a variety of reasons, the least not being a lack of financial resources and mentorship available to them,” said Aric, K. Perminter, CEO of Lynx Technology Partners. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with the ICMCP to make this grant available through the Lynx Technology Partners Foundation and increase the opportunity for talented youth interested in pursuing careers in cybersecurity to help protect our nation.”
The Aric K. Perminter Foundation Endowment Fellowship could not come at a more critical time. President Obama just announced his TechHire initiative, focused on promoting middle class economics to ensure that all Americans can contribute to and benefit from our American resurgence, including a new campaign to work with communities to get more Americans rapidly trained for well-paying technology jobs. In addition, Vice President Biden, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, and White House Science Advisor John Holdren announced on January 15, 2015 that the Department of Energy would provide a $25 million grant over the next five years to support cybersecurity education. The new grant will support the creation of a new cybersecurity consortium consisting of 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), two national labs, and a K-12 school district.
A 501(c)(3) organization, the ICMCP was launched in 2014 to help bridge the ‘great minority cyber divide’ resulting from the ongoing under-representation of women and other minorities in the fast-growing field of cyber security. The ICMCP aims to tackle this divide with scholarship opportunities, technical training programs, mentoring, and networking programs targeting women and other major minority groups’ cybersecurity professionals worldwide.
The Aric K. Perminter Undergraduate Fellowship Award is a financial support program that encourages and recognizes high academic achievement of students interested in pursuing a corporate career in a cybersecurity discipline. The award is accompanied by internship and mentoring opportunities. Two students are selected in their junior year. The recipients are awarded $2,500 each for up to two years. The minimum grade point average required is 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
“It is encouraging to have companies like Lynx Technology Partners working with the ICMCP to help advance women and minorities in cybersecurity,” said Devon Bryan, Founder & President of the ICMCP. “We commend Aric and Lynx Technology Partners for their commitment to helping gifted female and minority youth and professionals progress in the cyber security field. Their dedication and commitment to advancing these underrepresented talent bases is admirable and will not only make opportunities available for all students but ultimately strengthen the security of our nation.”
About Lynx Technology Partners
Lynx Technology Partners is the trusted information security and risk management advisor that customers in highly regulated industries worldwide depend on to improve security posture, facilitate compliance, reduce risk, and improve operational efficiency. With world-class skills and knowledge capital built over 30 years, Lynx security experts help customers recognize and control IT-related risks and maintain compliance with major industry and government standards. Through consulting, assessments, tests, managed security services, and a proprietary GRC solution, Lynx supports many critical projects per year for security-conscious leaders in Energy, Financial Services, Federal, Healthcare, and Higher Education. For more information please visit http://lynxtp.com/.
About ICMCP
The International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals (ICMCP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It began official operations in September 2014 and is organized exclusively for charitable purposes, to provide members with educational/technical scholarships, mentoring opportunities, professional development, and networking.
Media Contact : Veda Woods, Executive Director
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