Engineering Student Wins National Scholarship

Freshman Presidential Scholar, Christine Fossaceca ’16 ECE has been awarded a 2013 National Security Education Program (NSEP) David L. Boren Scholarship. This is the third consecutive year that a Villanova student has won this competitive award. Christine plans to use her scholarship to pursue Korean language studies and computer engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea in the spring 2014 semester. Committed to learning both Korean language and culture, Christine is involved with Villanova’s Korean Student Association and practices Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art.

Boren Scholarships are funded by the NSEP, which focuses on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security. According to the Boren Awards website, applicants “must identify how their study abroad program, as well as their future academic and career goals, will contribute to U.S. national security, broadly defined.”

After graduation, Boren scholars must fulfill the NSEP Service Requirement, which stipulates that an award recipient work in the Federal Government in a position with national security responsibilities. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, State, or any element of the Intelligence Community are priority agencies. Christine’s post-graduation plan is to enter the field of cybersecurity through the National Security Agency.