Kean University Awarded $500,000 NSF Grant to Advance CyberAI Education and Research
Kean University is expanding its leadership in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity with a new $500,000 grant to support the development of academic pathways and prepare students for the emerging CyberAI workforce.
Daehan Kwak, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, is leading the three-year project titled CyberAI Innovation: Building Academic Pathways for the CyberAI Workforce. The project is supported through the Innovation Track of the National Science Foundation’s CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program, which seeks to increase the national capacity to educate and train professionals in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and the intersection of the two fields.
Kwak is joined by co-principal investigators Stanley Mierzwa, Ph.D., director of Kean’s Center for Cybersecurity, and Bin Hu, Ph.D., Navya Martin Kollapally, Ph.D., and Boyang Li, Ph.D., assistant professors in the Department of Computer Science and Technology.
“Kean is preparing students for the technologies shaping our future,” said George Chang, Ph.D., dean of The Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology. “The CyberAI project combines education, research and applied learning to prepare students to secure AI systems and strengthen cybersecurity. It will help expand the CyberAI workforce while creating new opportunities for our students.”
The project addresses two equally important aspects of CyberAI: using AI to improve cybersecurity and securing the AI systems themselves. Kean’s initiative will create formal CyberAI academic pathways and introduce coursework, hands-on learning and research experiences in line with emerging national AI security standards.
“The most impactful thing is that the project will help build a new workforce capable of both using AI for cybersecurity and, of course, protecting our AI systems from emerging threats,” Kwak said.
The work will also reach well beyond a single academic department. Faculty in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity and criminal justice will collaborate through development workshops and integrate CyberAI into existing courses. Students will also work alongside faculty on research tackling emerging challenges in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, areas of growing importance to national security and workforce development.
The interdisciplinary approach is one of the project’s strengths, allowing students to gain perspectives across computing, cybersecurity and criminal justice, according to Kwak.
“Cybersecurity can apply to almost everything, as can AI,” he said. “The challenge is focusing on where they intersect and preparing students with the right skills.”
The project builds on Kean’s existing investment in artificial intelligence. Kean was the first university in New Jersey to offer a Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence, providing an academic foundation that the new CyberAI initiative can connect with cybersecurity education and research.
Mierzwa said the project will bring together expertise from across the University.
“This initiative reflects Kean University’s commitment to collaborative CyberAI education that prepares students to address complex challenges and provides career pathways,” Mierzwa said.
The grant marks another step in Kean’s continued expansion of artificial intelligence education and research.
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