UAlbany receives NSF funding for AI-cybersecurity undergraduate research site

The University at Albany has received National Science Foundation support to launch a new undergraduate research program focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REU, Site is scheduled to begin in spring 2027 and will be funded for three years.

The program will bring together undergraduate students to work on cybersecurity questions where AI systems can be used as tools, and where AI itself needs to be evaluated for reliability and security. Its summer research cohorts are expected to include eight undergraduates each year, starting in 2027.

Research training planned for 2027

UAlbany said students in the program will receive training in Python, data science and AI-driven decision-making using real datasets. The work is intended to give participants experience with research problems rather than simply classroom instruction.

The planned research portfolio includes cyber deception, security for industrial control systems, trustworthy AI, cyber training and human-AI interaction during incident decision-making. Industrial control systems are the digital systems used to monitor or operate physical processes and infrastructure; the program will examine their security as one part of its research agenda.

Approximately half of participants are expected to come from UAlbany and other State University of New York campuses. The announcement does not identify an application opening date for the first summer cohort.

Albany facilities will support the work

Students will use UAlbany facilities including its AI in Complex Systems Laboratory, Cyber Range and Cyber Cascade Risk labs. Those resources are expected to support exercises and research involving AI and cybersecurity, including work with real datasets.

UAlbany’s Cyber Resilient Interdependent Systems and Infrastructure Solutions Lab, known as the CRISIS Lab, also researches critical-infrastructure security and resilience. Its work includes AI and machine-learning applications for cybersecurity, generative-AI threat modeling and intrusion detection.

The new NSF-backed site is a training and research program, not a deployment of a new cybersecurity product or a demonstrated reduction in cyberattacks. The university’s announcement describes its planned curriculum, facilities and research topics, but does not report measured security outcomes from the new program.

What remains unknown

UAlbany has not disclosed the dollar value of the NSF award in its announcement. It also has not provided a date for when students can apply for the 2027 cohort.

Still, the three-year program establishes a defined pathway for undergraduates to conduct research at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity in Albany, with the first summer cohort planned for 2027.