BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Out of the 16 Scholarships for Women Studying Information Security handed out in 2019, two went to students from the University of Colorado (CU) engineering program.
Stacy Hayes, a senior studying computer science, said the scholarship will help her worry less about the cost of tuition and focus more on finishing strong before graduation.
"What I want to do is work as a software developer, so I'll be developing applications for military use mostly," she said.
The SWSIS scholarship is only awarded to women to help give them a leg up in a male-dominated industry. The prize ranges from $5,000 to $10,000.
"There [are] plenty of things women can be doing, and women are making a difference in all of these fields. And just because there's this precedent, that doesn't mean it defines what you can do," Hayes said.
Jennifer Peyrot is a CU grad student working on her master's degree in technology, cybersecurity and policy. She, too, won the prestigious SWSIS award.
"I was just blown away to have gotten it," she said.
Peyrot, who teaches at St. Vrain Valley School District's innovation center, said it's not just the money that makes this scholarship so meaningful. It's the conferences winners get to attend.
"The other winners, just talking to them, they're doing some incredible things around the country," she said.
Peyrot hopes her personal win will inspire students to reach for goals they might not have thought possible. She's also encouraging girls in her classes to enter a field that's about more than just math and science.
"Cybersecurity is not just this one group of people," she said. "I mean, I think I look different than your average cybersecurity person."
According to CU, it's unusual for a university to have more than one student recipient of the national award in a year.
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