The National Science Foundation (NSF) on Tuesday announced the first awards under its CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, launching a new effort to prepare students for careers that increasingly require expertise in both artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber defense.
Under the CyberAICorps SFS program, scholarship recipients commit to working in AI or cybersecurity roles within a government organization after graduation for a period of at least the length of the scholarship.
The awards mark an expansion of NSF’s long-running CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program.
According to a July 28 NSF press release, the inaugural fiscal year 2026 awards will support 14 colleges and universities developing programs that combine AI and cybersecurity education with hands-on training, mentoring, and pathways into federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government service.
“Through the CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program, NSF is investing in the talent needed to secure today’s digital infrastructure and AI-enabled technologies and advance the nation’s capacity to meet evolving cybersecurity threats,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director.
Funded projects will prepare students to use AI for cybersecurity functions such as threat detection, incident response, and digital forensics, and to develop AI systems designed to withstand evolving cyber threats.
NSF said many of the projects will integrate coursework spanning AI-enabled cyber defense and cyber-physical systems security. Traditionally, these disciplines have been taught separately. Students also will participate in faculty-mentored research, cyber training exercises, security laboratories, internships, and capstone projects tied to government and critical infrastructure challenges.
The agency said the scholarship program combines financial assistance with mentoring, career development, and partnerships across the public sector to strengthen the pipeline of professionals entering government service with experience in cybersecurity and AI.
The fiscal year 2026 competition attracted proposals from colleges and universities nationwide. NSF said the selected projects were chosen through its merit review process for their potential to strengthen education and workforce development while addressing national priorities at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity.
The inaugural award recipients are:
- Arizona State University
- Augusta University
- California State University, San Bernardino
- Michigan Technological University
- New Jersey Institute of Technology
- Old Dominion University
- Texas A&M University
- University of Central Florida
- University of New Haven
- University of Rhode Island
- University of West Florida
- The University of Texas at Dallas
- The University of Texas at El Paso
- Vanderbilt University