Project Grant 2622701

The National Science Foundation Division of Graduate Education awarded $441,645 to the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa on September 1, 2026, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to develop AI-enhanced cybersecurity education and expand workforce capacity in that field.

The recipient will develop six open-access, AI-enhanced modules integrated into an existing cyber data analytics certificate, covering adversarial machine learning, AI-driven threat detection, and AI pipeline security, with laboratories aligned to Department of Defense Cyber Workforce Framework roles. The project delivers an annual summer faculty institute co-training community college and secondary Career and Technical Education teachers, establishes a dual-credit pathway in AI-enhanced cybersecurity for eight high schools, and creates nine discipline-embedded micro-modules that integrate cybersecurity competencies into nursing, automotive technology, accounting, and other non-IT programs. The project generates open educational resources and a high school pathway designed to sustain benefits beyond the performance period and broaden their reach nationally. Performance occurs at the University of Hawai'i Maui College in Kahului, Hawaii, which holds designation as a federally designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and serves community college, high school, and working educator populations across the Hawaiian Islands.

Performance runs through August 31, 2029. The award advances the second goal of the CyberAI Corps Scholarship for Service Innovation Track by enhancing national capacity for AI and cybersecurity education.