The Synchrony Financial Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity was established in 2016. Through this effort, Synchrony Financial and UConn aim to counter the growing threats of foreign and domestic cybercrime by developing information security talent and leading research to help companies and consumers stay ahead of these threats. Through the partnership, Synchrony Financial will provide an endowment for the Synchrony Financial Chair in Cybersecurity to lead cybersecurity education at UConn and help develop a strong pipeline of information security talent. In addition to research, Synchrony Financial committed funding toward a Cybersecurity Fellows Program and a scholarship program that will provide stipends to UConn graduate students interested in this subject where they will study and conduct independent cybersecurity research.
The partnership is close to home for Stamford-based Synchrony Financial and will help prepare local Connecticut talent to help fill the nearly 210,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S.
“We are passionate about cultivating top technology talent in Connecticut, people who will soon be on the nation’s front lines of defense against cybercrime,” said Carol Juel, executive vice president and chief information officer at Synchrony Financial. “Our partnership with UConn is an important step towards building the research and resources needed to fuel hiring in this growing area of technology.”
Synchrony Financial believes that impactful research and dedicated resources, like the center, are imperative in reducing vulnerability to cyber attacks.
Scholarships and Fellowships
Undergraduate Scholarships
| Academic Year | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Heroux Edward Huang Trevor Phi Hannah Reed Ashley Sanders Shreya Varshney Xinyu Wang |
Maryzyrene Adao Virginia Blessing Eric Flower Nicholas Hartunian Cathryn Jenner Alex Masi Mariem Ouni |
Ben Goh Matt Jaccino Justin Galliccho Virginia Ho Faith Sporbert Chloe Becquey |
Graduate Fellowships
| Academic Year | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omer Amer Chloe Cachet Timothy Curry Tristan Pepin |
Chloe Cachet Mohammad Valizadeh |
Sohaib Ahmad Chloe Cachet Maryam Rezapour Minwoo Bae |
Sohaib Ahmad Minwoo Bae Chloe Cachet Maryam Rezapour |
Sohaib Ahmad Chloe Cachet Hasan Iqbal Sara Wrotniak Zahra Motaqy |
Sihong He Hanbin Hong Shaoyi Huang Hasan Iqbal Anna Mendonca Zahra Motaqy Mohamed Essedik Najd Michael Shliselberg Ehsan Ul Haque Jiahui Zhao |