The National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure awarded the University of South Carolina $200,000 on January 1, 2027, under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to deliver PowerCyber, a national training and community-building program for artificial intelligence-enabled power grid research.
PowerCyber scales a successful pilot into a workforce development initiative that prepares faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students to adopt and teach modern cyberinfrastructure methods for AI-driven electricity systems. The project delivers hands-on training, reusable instructional materials, open-source computational environments, and sustained community engagement through a train-the-trainer model combined with research-ready training pathways. Work extends across power engineering education to address the uneven distribution of capabilities in cyberinfrastructure, scalable computing, data-driven modeling, and trustworthy artificial intelligence.
The award supports curriculum adoption across the broader power engineering community by amplifying impact beyond direct participants. Outcomes include strengthening the national cyberinfrastructure workforce, broadening access to advanced computational training, and enabling more reproducible, scalable, and trustworthy research for future electric grids.
Performance occurs in Columbia, South Carolina over the period January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2029. The assistance type is a Project Grant.