Federal Grant Award Summary

Florida International University received a $465K Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Computing and Communication Foundations under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program, effective October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2029. The award funds the ASSET-AI (Advanced Secured Sensor Enabling Technologies – Artificial Intelligence) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site, which provides research and education opportunities for ten undergraduate students annually. The program engages student cohorts with faculty mentors and graduate students on collaborative research and development projects integrating sensing networks, artificial intelligence, edge computing, cybersecurity, and modern language models to enable real-time, on-device reasoning under strict resource constraints.

The REU Site addresses critical research questions focused on trustworthy AI for advanced and secure sensing at the edge, specifically examining how compact AI models can support on-device reasoning within latency, energy, and memory limitations, and how privacy-aware and federated learning approaches can protect sensitive data while maintaining system functionality. The program directly supports workforce development in the priority areas of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, preparing undergraduate researchers for careers in research and development roles where AI-enabled sensing systems must operate on resource-constrained distributed devices while maintaining security, accuracy, and auditability. This aligns with NSF's REU Site portfolio, which typically funds 8-10 student participants annually through three-year programs in the $450K–$600K range.