CyberAI Innovation: An Educational Program on National Defense and Security-Centric Artificial Intelligence of Things

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) has given rise to the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), a paradigm that is rapidly transforming national defense and security through smarter surveillance, autonomous decision-making, command-and-control, and human-machine teaming capabilities. Despite the growing importance of AIoT in defense and security contexts, there is a lack of academic programs on AIoT that specifically focus on national defense/security-centric use cases. This project addresses this critical gap by developing a certificate program that equips students with the knowledge and hands-on skills needed to integrate AI and Machine Learning (ML) with cybersecurity concepts for designing, deploying, and operating secure and resilient national defense/security-centric AIoT systems, thereby strengthening the national pipeline of AI and cybersecurity talent equipped to serve the nation’s defense and security needs. The goal of the project is to develop and offer the AIoT-EdNaDS (Educational Program on National Defense and Security-Centric Artificial Intelligence of Things) certificate program, an undergraduate-level experiential learning program in Computer Science at the University of Cincinnati. Infused with fiction-based education and educational technology transfer processes, the program will feature a novel top-down curriculum structure that allows undergraduate students to gradually digest increasingly detailed AIoT concepts while instilling sustained interest and focus. The top-down learning process will embed guided-project-based learning and problem-based learning modules incorporating model-eliciting activities and threshold concepts for transformative learning. To ensure proper alignment with national defense/security priorities, the program will be designed and implemented collaboratively through cross-sector government-industry partnerships with organizations that serve the national defense and security sector, including the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Through systematic research and evaluation activities, the project will identify high-impact AI-, cybersecurity-, and AIoT-focused national defense/security-centric education-to-employment pathways and reveal best practices for establishing effective cross-sector communities of practice for advancing such systems, while disseminating project outcomes through diverse channels for societal and national benefit. This project is supported by the CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service (CyberAI SFS) program which funds proposals to increase national capacity to educate and train professionals in Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Cybersecurity, and to support their placement and retention in the CyberAI mission of government organizations. The Scholarship Track funds academic institutions to award scholarships to students in exchange for their government service. The Innovation Track seeks transformative education proposals in the areas of AI, cybersecurity, or the integration of AI and cybersecurity. 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.