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ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College receives $660K to enhance AI, cybersecurity education

Cyber student working on cyber logs at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College

Cyber instructor teaching a class at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College

To tackle a critical nationwide shortage of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) professionals, the has secured a three-year, $441,645 (NSF) to launch a groundbreaking project: “CyberAI Innovation: AI-Enhanced Cyber Data Analytics Education.” 

Led by Principal Investigator Debasis Bhattacharya and Co-Investigator Thomas Blamey, the initiative builds on previous NSF-funded efforts and directly addresses a vital local need, as HawaiÊ»i currently ranks among the top five states in the nation for unmet cybersecurity workforce demand. 

"The intersection of AI, data analytics and cybersecurity is a critical frontier for modern digital defense," said Bhattacharya, who also serves as the director of the . "With HawaiÊ»i facing such a steep challenge in meeting cybersecurity job demands, this grant enables us to build robust, early-career pipelines. We are excited to empower local educators and students with the advanced skills needed to protect our critical systems.”

New curriculum, training

The project will introduce an AI-integrated curriculum by embedding six new modules—including adversarial machine learning, AI-powered threat detection, secure AI pipelines and CyberAI ethics—across six core computer science courses at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College. Additionally, a three-year professional development program will deliver statewide faculty training across all seven ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ community colleges and HawaiÊ»i Department of Education (HIDOE) secondary schools.

To cultivate early interest, the college will leverage the community of practice created by the NSF Project (a collaboration aimed at improving computer science education at the state level) to expand K–14 academic pathways. The project also extends beyond IT, developing customized cyberAI micro-modules for non-IT fields such as healthcare/nursing, automotive technology and accounting/finance. 

AI, GenCyber cybersecurity camps

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College has also secured a supplement of $129,190 from the NSF to host two AI camps during the summers of 2027 and 2028 in conjunction with the HIDOE. These camps will provide middle and high school students with basic AI literacy, safety, well-being, vibe coding (software development utilizing AI) experience and guidance on responsible usage.

To continue the tradition of cybersecurity summer camps funded by the National Security Agency’s , ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Maui College has been awarded $89,537 to conduct two in-person student summer camps on OÊ»ahu and an online student camp during the summer of 2027. More details on all these camps will be available at .