Targeted Infusion Project: Integrating AI in Cybersecurity: A Pathway to National Security and Workforce Development

Morgan State University seeks to advance undergraduate STEM education at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. Leveraging the existing curriculum in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and information science and systems, researchers will add twelve hands-on laboratory activities, as well as create three new courses to infuse AI and cybersecurity content across the curriculum. Participating students will remain enrolled in existing degree pathways while gaining experience with the secure, explainable, ethical, and responsible use of AI. In addition, faculty development, practitioner-informed learning activities, capstone projects, internship opportunities, and career preparation will connect classroom instruction with national security and workforce needs. It is anticipated that this project will produce accessible instructional materials that other colleges and universities can adopt with limited technical preparation, expand access to current cybersecurity education, improve student learning and course success, and prepare graduates for careers involving secure and responsible uses of AI. Curricular enhancements in adversarial machine learning, explainable AI and ethical data privacy, and an interdisciplinary cybersecurity and AI capstone are core components to this project. Specifically, newly designed laboratory activities will focus on computer scripting, computer networks, network security, machine learning, ethical hacking, risk management, law and privacy, and digital forensics. High impact pedagogical practices will include active learning, project-based laboratories, structured formative assessment, reproducible computing environments, and public or synthetic security data. Student outcomes will be evaluated through assessments administered before and after instruction, practical exercises, laboratory and capstone rubrics, course-completion measures, faculty implementation records, and aggregate information from institutions adopting the instructional materials, whereby a comprehensive mixed methods evaluation plan has strong potential to reveal key insights. Furthermore, accessible instructional packages will include syllabi, learning modules, laboratory notebooks, datasets or data templates, assessment instruments, grading rubrics, instructor guidance, and implementation notes to facilitate broader adoption of this educational approach. Expected contributions include stronger student preparation in adversarial risk analysis, model explanation, privacy, governance, reproducibility, technical communication, teamwork, and secure system development, together with transferable evidence and instructional materials for strengthening undergraduate cybersecurity education at other institutions. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), through Targeted Infusion Projects, supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based, innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) graduate programs and/or careers. 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.