Project Grant 2623258

The National Science Foundation Division of Graduate Education awarded New Jersey Institute of Technology $1,942,880 on August 1, 2026, to develop and deliver an integrated cybersecurity-and-artificial-intelligence education program under the CyberAI Scholarship for Service initiative, through July 31, 2029, at the Newark, New Jersey campus.

NJIT will recruit, train, and graduate students for cybersecurity roles in federal government agencies by implementing a cohesive educational model that combines cybersecurity and artificial intelligence into a unified master's-level curriculum. Students from multiple computing disciplines will transition into cybersecurity-focused master's programs enhanced with AI coursework including trustworthy AI, federated learning, AI-assisted software engineering, and secure AI agents. The program integrates flexible curricula, experiential learning, research-supported education, cyber range exercises, competition-based training, and multi-tier mentoring. Students will engage in hands-on cyberai projects and research on topics such as AI-driven vulnerability detection, privacy-preserving code generation, secure AI agents, and AI-enabled security operations.

The award builds on NJIT's prior decade-long success in the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program. The initiative responds to the dual role of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity—strengthening cyber defense through large-scale data analysis, anomaly detection, and automated response while also enabling more sophisticated attacks including adversarial machine learning, data poisoning, and AI-assisted vulnerability discovery. The program aims to develop government-sector professionals capable of both using AI to defend critical infrastructure and securing AI-enabled systems against emerging threats.

This is a Project Grant under STEM Education (CFDA 47.076), a National Science Foundation program supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education enterprise development.