WSSU wins NSF grant for AI security training

Winston-Salem State University has received a $496,376 grant from the National Science Foundation to prepare students to recognize and respond to AI cybersecurity threats. Led by Debzani Deb, founding director of WSSU’s Center for Applied Data Science, the interdisciplinary project will create four teaching units for healthcare management, education and computer science students.

The units will address system failures and attacks, evaluating tools before adoption, responding to harm or data breaches under HIPAA and FERPA, and legal and ethical obligations in public-sector settings. They will be integrated into five existing WSSU courses without requiring new programs or additional institutional resources. In-person and fully online versions will accommodate working professionals, while freely available materials will support faculty without an AI security background and students who are not technology specialists.

Novant Healthcare, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Cisco will contribute workforce-focused case studies. The three-year project will run through August 2029 and is expected to directly benefit 200 to 250 WSSU undergraduate and graduate students annually. Its central goal is to help graduates identify manipulated, unsafe or unfair AI systems and understand their legal responsibilities when using them.