Collaborative research: cyberai innovation: building cybersecurity competence in the ERA of agentic AI: a modular, hands-on curriculum with low-barrier learning platform

The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education awarded Miami University $165,520 on September 1, 2026, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to develop a modular, hands-on curriculum and low-barrier web-based learning platform for cybersecurity education focused on agentic artificial intelligence systems.

The curriculum addresses security risks across the full operational lifecycle of agentic AI—autonomous systems capable of reasoning, planning, tool use, and external interaction—with instructional modules covering secure agent deployment, adversarial inputs and prompt security, secure orchestration with tools and memory, secure external interaction, safe user-facing outputs, and long-running agents and assurance. The program will serve graduate students and working professionals as primary audiences while supporting undergraduate education, educator training, and K–12 outreach through reusable, containerized learning environments that map security responsibilities across developers, users, and other stakeholders.

Performance occurs in Oxford, Ohio, with a period of performance through August 31, 2029. The project intends to strengthen the cybersecurity workforce, enhance capacity to develop trustworthy AI systems, and contribute to national defense by preparing learners to recognize, analyze, and mitigate security risks in agentic AI systems deployed across government agencies, critical infrastructure, and private industry.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a modular, hands-on curriculum supported by a low-barrier platform to prepare learners to recognize, analyze, and mitigate security risks across the full operational lifecycle of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The need for such educational resources is driven by the rapid adoption of agentic AI systems capable of autonomous reasoning, planning, tool use, and interaction with external environments across government agencies, critical infrastructure, private industry, and the national economy. Although these systems enable powerful new capabilities, they also introduce significant security risks because they may generate code, invoke tools, access sensitive resources, and make decisions that seem effective while embedding vulnerabilities or producing unintended consequences. The project intends to primarily serve graduate students and working professionals while also supporting undergraduate education, educator training, and K?12 outreach through reusable instructional modules and containerized learning environments. By advancing secure agentic AI education, the project will strengthen the cybersecurity workforce, enhance the nation?S capacity to develop and deploy trustworthy AI systems that serve the public, and contribute to national defense. The project plans to develop a modular, lifecycle-driven curriculum supported by a low-barrier, web-based learning platform. The curriculum is designed to include a set of instructional modules covering secure agent deployment, adversarial inputs and prompt security, secure orchestration with tools and memory, secure external interaction, safe user-facing outputs, and long-running agents and assurance. The modules will map security responsibilities across developers, users, and maintainers and will be reinforced through project-based training. The accompanying platform will provide browser-based access to reproducible, containerized experimental environments and an instructor-grounded AI tutor. The platform is expected to support both university-hosted and lightweight self-hosted deployment to reduce setup, computing, and access barriers. The project will evaluate learner outcomes, platform usability, instructional effectiveness, and dissemination readiness through formative and summative assessment. Curriculum packages, software bundles, and deployment documentation will be released to make the project materials accessible and reusable. A public repository, experience reports, workshops, and a network of interested educators and industry partners will support broad dissemination and sustained community adoption. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.