The University of Hawaii Maui College has secured $660,635 in new National Science Foundation funding to expand artificial intelligence and cybersecurity education, with a focus on building pipelines into a field where Hawaii ranks among the top five states for unmet workforce demand.
The largest award, a three-year, $441,645 NSF grant, will launch the "CyberAI Innovation: AI-Enhanced Cyber Data Analytics Education" project. A separate $129,190 supplement will fund two AI camps for middle and high school students, and an additional $89,537 will support summer camps on Oahu and online.
Principal investigator Debasis Bhattacharya, who also directs the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research, said the project targets a pressing local problem. "The intersection of AI, data analytics and cybersecurity is a critical frontier for modern digital defense," he said. "With Hawaii facing such a steep challenge in meeting cybersecurity job demands, this grant enables us to build robust, early-career pipelines."
Thomas Blamey serves as co-investigator on the project.
New curriculum and statewide training
The project will embed six new modules across six core computer courses at UH Maui College. The modules cover adversarial machine learning, AI-powered threat detection, secure AI pipelines, and CyberAI ethics.
For professionals already in the field, the intersection of these disciplines is covered in training paths like AI for Cybersecurity Analysts, which focuses on applying AI to threat detection and response.
The grant also funds a three-year professional development program offering statewide faculty training across all seven UH community colleges and Hawaii Department of Education secondary schools. To develop early interest, the college will build on the community of practice created by the NSF Project CSP4Hawaii to expand K-14 academic pathways.
The project extends beyond IT. Custom CyberAI micro-modules will be developed for healthcare and nursing, automotive technology, and accounting and finance programs.
Summer camps for students
The NSF supplement will support two AI camps in the summers of 2027 and 2028, run with the Hawaii Department of Education. The camps give middle and high school students basic AI literacy, safety, well-being, and guidance on responsible use, plus hands-on experience with vibe coding - software development using AI.
An additional $89,537 will fund two in-person summer camps on Oahu and one online camp during summer 2027. Details on all camps are available at GenCyber Hawaii.
Why this matters for educators
For faculty and administrators, the project offers a concrete template for weaving AI literacy into existing courses rather than building new degree programs from scratch. The statewide training component and K-14 pathway work mean classroom teachers across Hawaii - not just college instructors - will gain access to AI and cybersecurity curriculum materials. Educators in other states facing similar workforce gaps can watch this project as a model for connecting secondary schools, community colleges, and industry demand, with related resources such as AI for Education covering training options for instructors and institutions.
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