CyberAI SFS: Government-ready Experts in Resilient CyberAI

There is a growing national need for professionals who can secure artificial intelligence systems and use artificial intelligence to strengthen cybersecurity. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in government, defense, healthcare, energy, and public-service systems, but these systems also create new risks, including manipulation, data exposure, model theft, and unreliable automated decisions. Augusta University hosts a Focus Area-Cyber program designed to educate and prepare students at the intersection of Cybersecurity and AI for employment in federal, state, local, tribal, and national-security settings. By combining scholarship support, mentoring, internships, applied projects, career preparation, and outreach, the program will expand pathways into public-sector cyber careers. It will also strengthen the national cyber workforce by producing graduates who understand both the promise and risks of AI and who are prepared to protect mission-critical systems that affect national defense, economic security, and public welfare. This scholar preparation program will integrate cybersecurity, AI, experiential learning, and government workforce readiness. It will support scholars in two cohorts across eligible undergraduate and graduate degree pathways, including cybersecurity, cyber operations, cybersecurity engineering, computer science, data science, cyber science and biomedical systems engineering. Scholars will participate in faculty and professional mentoring, summer internships, research or applied projects, monthly cohort activities, federal hiring preparation, and community outreach. Technical preparation will address secure and trustworthy AI, adversarial machine learning, privacy-preserving AI, AI-enabled cyber defense, digital forensics, malware analysis, cyber-physical systems security, and responsible AI governance. This program will also expand CyberAI curriculum through new and revised courses, instructional modules, laboratories, and applied learning activities. This project is supported by the CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service (CyberAI SFS) program which funds proposals to increase national capacity to educate and train professionals in Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Cybersecurity, and to support their placement and retention in the CyberAI mission of government organizations. The Scholarship Track funds academic institutions to award scholarships to students in exchange for their government service. The Innovation Track seeks transformative education proposals in the areas of AI, cybersecurity, or the integration of AI and cybersecurity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.