The University of South Florida (USF) has secured a $1.5 million gift from cybersecurity firm ReliaQuest to fund a new endowed professorship and broaden experiential learning in AI and cybersecurity. The investment will support the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, helping the institution attract top faculty and prepare students for changing industry demands.
The gift, made through the USF Foundation, allocates $1 million to endow the ReliaQuest AI and Cybersecurity Professorship. The remaining $500,000 will continue the ReliaQuest Labs program and add a second track in software engineering to the existing cybersecurity operations focus.
Endowed professorship to attract top faculty
The endowed professorship is the first for the new college, which launched to combine AI, cybersecurity, and computing disciplines. President Moez Limayem said the gift "enhances USF's hands-on learning opportunities for students while supporting USF's efforts to attract and retain world-class faculty in critical and rapidly evolving fields." The professorship aims to draw researchers and educators who can advance teaching and drive innovation in AI and cybersecurity.
ReliaQuest Labs adds software engineering track
The ReliaQuest Labs program, launched in 2018, has already graduated more than 300 students, with most accepting jobs at ReliaQuest or other cybersecurity employers. The new software engineering track will focus on prompt engineering and AI-supported development, aligning with industry demand for professionals who can build and secure AI-driven systems. For students entering this field, an AI Learning Path for Cybersecurity Analysts can supplement formal education with targeted skills.
Industry partnership drives workforce readiness
ReliaQuest founder and CEO Brian Murphy described cybersecurity as "the greatest technical challenge of our generation, and with AI reshaping the threat landscape, it's only getting more complex. That just creates even more opportunity for talented individuals to enter this industry." He added that the partnership with USF ensures "students graduate ready to seize that opportunity, and this investment helps do that on a broader scale." Sudeep Sarkar, launch dean of the college, said the labs provide "a powerful experiential learning environment, one of the core pillars of our academic mission, where students engage directly with real-world challenges."
Why this matters for education professionals
This gift signals a growing trend of direct industry investment in university AI and cybersecurity curricula. For educators and administrators, it demonstrates how partnerships can fund faculty positions and create hands-on programs that directly align with workforce needs. As institutions look to build similar initiatives, the role of AI for Education becomes a key factor in designing programs that produce job-ready graduates. The USF model shows that combining endowed chairs with experiential labs can strengthen both academic reputation and student outcomes.
For more information, visit the University of South Florida.
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