Dayton team wins NSA grant for game-based cybersecurity lessons

The University of Dayton is leading a two-year, $500,000 National Security Agency award to develop game-based AI and cybersecurity lessons for Dayton-area middle and high school students. Partners include Wright State University, the Air Force Institute of Technology and cybersecurity training company Haiku Inc., working with the Dayton Regional STEM Center and Dayton Regional STEM Schools.

Led by computer science professor Phu Phung, the project aims to strengthen the future cyber workforce by making technical concepts engaging and practical for classrooms. Students will train simple machine-learning models in their browsers, practice recognizing deepfakes and AI-generated phishing, and take attacker and defender roles in games. The approach aligns with Dayton Regional STEM Schools’ emphasis on hands-on, project-based learning.

The team plans to produce complete instructional packages for 10 modules, including lesson plans, instructor guides, exercises and assessment tools. Materials will be shared through the national Cybersecurity Labs and Resource Knowledge-base (CLARK) repository and the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity community. The NSA may exercise an option for a third year at $250,000 to support work toward implementing the curriculum nationally.