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To tackle a critical nationwide shortage of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) professionals, the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College has secured a three-year, $441,645 National Science Foundation (NSF) award to launch a groundbreaking project: “CyberAI Innovation: AI-Enhanced Cyber Data Analytics Education.”

Led by Principal Investigator Debasis Bhattacharya and Co-Investigator Thomas Blamey, the initiative builds on previous NSF-funded efforts and directly addresses a vital local need, as Hawaiʻi currently ranks among the top five states in the nation for unmet cybersecurity workforce demand.

“The intersection of AI, data analytics and cybersecurity is a critical frontier for modern digital defense,” said Bhattacharya, who also serves as the director of the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research. “With Hawaiʻi facing such a steep challenge in meeting cybersecurity job demands, this grant enables us to build robust, early-career pipelines. We are excited to empower local educators and students with the advanced skills needed to protect our critical systems.”

The project will introduce an AI-integrated curriculum by embedding six new modules—including adversarial machine learning, AI-powered threat detection, secure AI pipelines and CyberAI ethics—across six core computer science courses at UH Maui College. Additionally, a three-year professional development program will deliver statewide faculty training across all seven UH community colleges and Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) secondary schools.

To cultivate early interest, the college will leverage the community of practice created by the NSF Project CSP4Hawaii (a collaboration aimed at improving computer science education at the state level) to expand K–14 academic pathways. The project also extends beyond IT, developing customized cyberAI micro-modules for non-IT fields such as healthcare/nursing, automotive technology and accounting/finance.

UH Maui College has also secured a supplement award of $129,190 from the NSF to host two AI camps during the summers of 2027 and 2028 in conjunction with the HIDOE. These camps will provide middle and high school students with basic AI literacy, safety, well-being, vibe coding (software development utilizing AI) experience and guidance on responsible usage.

To continue the tradition of cybersecurity summer camps funded by the National Security Agency’s GenCyber, UH Maui College has been awarded $89,537 to conduct two in-person student summer camps on Oʻahu and an online student camp during the summer of 2027. More details on all these camps will be available at GenCyber Hawaiʻi.