Beginning this fall, New Jersey Institute of Technology students who study artificial intelligence and cybersecurity can earn full scholarships in exchange for working in government jobs after graduation.
The deal is happening because NJIT was accepted into the National Science Foundation’s new CyberAI Scholarships-for-Service program, which modernizes and adds AI components to the prior program that was called CyberCorps. NJIT is one of just 14 colleges nationwide, and the only one in New Jersey, accepted into the new federal initiative.
“The awards support colleges and universities that are preparing the next generation of professionals to address emerging cybersecurity challenges in an era in which artificial intelligence is transforming both cyber defense and cyber risk,” the NSF stated. “The CyberAI SFS program expands the traditional scope of cybersecurity education to reflect the increasingly interconnected relationship between AI and cybersecurity.”
“Funded projects aim to prepare students not only to leverage AI to strengthen cybersecurity operations, including threat detection, incident response and digital forensics, but also to develop AI systems that are resilient, secure and capable of withstanding evolving cyber threats,” the statement continued.
“By combining scholarships with strong mentoring, career development and partnerships across the public sector, the funded projects will strengthen direct pathways into federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government service. Together, they will continue to build a sustainable pipeline of CyberAI professionals prepared to support the missions of government agencies and safeguard the nation's increasingly AI-enabled digital and technology ecosystem,” they added.
Students have options for NJIT’s edition of the CyberAI program, including a three-year program that combines their senior year of undergraduate study and two years of masters-level work, or two years of standalone study at the masters level. Degrees that focus on AI will be bolstered with cybersecurity courses, and degrees that focus on cybersecurity will receive new AI elements, explained computer science department chairman Vincent Oria in NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing.
“Being knowledgeable in AI can help solve the security issues,” Oria said. However, “What I tell people is that AI is a tool, and like any tool, you need to know what you're doing before using this tool effectively. … I will be nervous if there is no pilot in the airplane when I'm flying, so having a human component is effective. But now a human can work with a robot to solve problems, and I'm fine with that.”
The NSF evaluates a college’s Scholarship-for-Service participation based on how many students followed through to work in government jobs. Job placement is not guaranteed, so students still have to apply for them. NJIT enrolled more than 50 students in the prior CyberCorps program and had 100% placement, Oria said. A proven ability in computer science is required for admission, although some students enter through related fields such as electrical engineering.
“I'm really happy we got it because it was highly competitive,” he said. “It's not like a renewal. It is a new program, and I'm happy that we were among the first cohort.” A handful of students are currently finishing their CyberCorps programs, so they’ll be able to mentor new CyberAI students, he noted.
Andrew Shapiro, a junior from Denville double majoring in computer science and mathematical sciences, said he’s excited to learn about the new opportunity. Shapiro is the Ying Wu College of Computing representative to the NJIT Student Senate. He said he enjoys learning about data science and has also participated in several hackathons and Capture-the-Flag cybersecurity competitions.
“I think it's a really good thing because, according to feedback from a lot of students, a lot of students are not necessarily enjoying AI as a concept, but they really enjoy looking at how to build AI, rather than using existing models,” Shapiro said. “They get to actually go ahead, apply all of their skills and learn how to build AI from scratch. And it's a really good thing that they're also combining cybersecurity as well, because these are both really big topics that a lot of students are very interested in.”
