IST receives $1.5 million grant to educate future AI+cybersecurity leaders

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $1.5 million to the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) for the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) Program, a federal government initiative to recruit and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. In particular, this year’s award also serves as a three-year pilot to educate students in both artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity skills.

The CyberCorps Scholarship for Service Program was created under the Federal Cyber Service Training and Education Initiative in 2000 and awarded its first scholarships in 2001. Scholarship recipients are selected for academic performance, likelihood of success in obtaining their degree and suitability for government employment in a qualifying cybersecurity role.

This award is the third CyberCorps SFS grant for the College of IST, who received an initial award of $4.4 million in 2017. Dongwon Lee, professor and interim head of IST’s Department of Privacy and Cybersecurity Informatics, is the principal investigator of the grant. He will oversee the program with co-principal investigator, Nick Giacobe, associate teaching professor, coordinator of IST’s cybersecurity analytics and operations program and the University’s point of contact for the National Security Agency’s Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education at Penn State.

According to Lee, IST’s first two CyberCorps grants have successfully demonstrated that IST fulfilled the NSF’s desire for interdisciplinary cybersecurity programs. This year’s selection criteria, however, added a new program requirement: AI. 

“IST is quickly becoming a leading academic unit in AI education, at Penn State and beyond,” Lee said. “This fall we introduced a bachelor of science degree program in AI and earlier in the year entered a partnership with the Nittany AI Alliance. IST has more than two dozen tenure-line faculty leading cutting-edge research in AI and/or cybersecurity. We believe these efforts and track records played a significant role in our winning this grant.”

Students in the SFS CyberCorps program are trained to meet the needs of the cybersecurity mission for federal, state, local and tribal governments and qualified national laboratories and state universities. At Penn State, successful applicants can be from any major, but likely candidates will come from those majoring in cybersecurity with an AI or data sciences focus or those studying data sciences or AI with a cybersecurity focus.

They receive full scholarships for tuition, books, a laptop and supplies. The program helps SFS Scholars secure placements into paid summer internships. Scholars also receive an annual stipend and a professional development allowance for certifications and for travel to cybersecurity conferences and competitions.

In return for their scholarships, recipients must agree to work after graduation for the government in a position related to cybersecurity for a period equal to the length of the scholarship — up to two years for undergraduate and master’s degree students and three years for doctoral students. SFS Scholars often find federal employment through SFS job fairs, which are run by the SFS Program at NSF and the Office of Personnel Management. 

“The CyberCorps program was designed to help the government fill cyber and information security positions with qualified students,” Giacobe said. “Through this program and their classroom and experiential learning at Penn State, a select group of students will be trailblazers, combining cybersecurity and AI skills they’ll need to succeed in the evolving cybersecurity workforce. We are looking forward to establishing the new cyber+AI cohort with new applicants in spring 2026.”

CyberCorps SFS is one of the longest-running, most successful NSF programs ever, according to Lee.

“This latest award is a testament to the Penn State and the College of IST’s commitment to educate the next generation of cybersecurity and AI professionals,” he said.

Further details of the program can be found at the SFS CyberCorps @ PSU website.