R.I. – Aug. 26, 2026 – The University of Rhode Island’s Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Center has landed two major National Science Foundation awards, totaling $4.8 million, that will fund scholarships for students enrolled in the University’s Professional Science Master’s in Cybersecurity program, including its new Securing Artificial Intelligence track. This new funding will help further advance URI’s cybersecurity education program
The Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Center, part of the Department of Computer Science and Statistics within URI’s College of Arts and Sciences, houses the University’s cybersecurity education, research and outreach programs, including the Professional Science Master’s in Cybersecurity, the Master of Science in Cybersecurity, and the OnRamp to Cybersecurity bridge program. URI has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security since 2012, and operates Rhode Island’s only NSF-funded CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program.
The first award, a three-year, $2,891,678 CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service grant, provides full scholarships, stipends and a government summer internship to two cohorts of graduate students who commit to a career protecting AI and cybersecurity systems for a federal, state or local government agency after graduation. It builds on URI’s existing CyberCorps SFS program, which has placed 93% of its graduates in government cybersecurity jobs since 2021—the only such federally funded scholarship program in Rhode Island.
CyberAICorps scholars also complete a two-semester, faculty-mentored research project; a four-semester professional development seminar covering federal careers, competitions and AI policy; K-12 outreach; and a government summer internship coordinated through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The second award, a $1,993,716 S-STEM grant called Pathways To A Cybersecurity/AI Career, provides last-dollar scholarships and mentoring to 30 academically talented, low-income students pursuing URI’s Master of Science in Cybersecurity over the next five years, closing a financial gap that currently keeps many qualified students out of the program.
Both grants support students in URI’s new Securing AI track, one of the first programs of its kind in the country that trains cybersecurity professionals to defend AI systems against attacks and to use AI as a tool in cyber defense. The track builds on the University’s 15-year designation by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, the nation’s premier recognition for a cybersecurity academic program.
“Artificial intelligence is rewriting both sides of the cybersecurity equation—the threats we have to defend against, and the tools we defend with. These awards let us do something very few programs in the country can: train cyber professionals who know how to secure AI systems and use AI to strengthen cyber defense, and open the door to that career for students who couldn’t otherwise afford a graduate degree,” said Victor Fay-Wolfe, professor of computer science and director of URI’s Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Center. “Rhode Island students now have access to one of the most advanced cybersecurity-AI programs in the nation, right here at home.”
Kaleel Mahmood, an assistant professor of computer science whose research spans adversarial machine learning and AI security, is co-principal investigator on the CyberAICorps award. Michael Conti, associate computer science teaching professor, is co-principal investigator on the S-STEM award.
URI’s Securing AI track is open to undergraduate and graduate students, with an accelerated bachelor’s-to-master’s pathway and an OnRamp bridge program for students coming from non-technical backgrounds. Prospective students can learn more by visiting the URI Department of Computer Science and Statistics’ website.
