WSSU receives a nearly $500,000 grant to help protect against artificial intelligence cybersecurity threats
An interdisciplinary team of Winston-Salem State University faculty members has received a $496,376 grant from the National Science Foundation to help protect against cybersecurity threats involving artificial intelligence.
WSSU plans to create four teaching units on AI security and integrate them into courses already being taken by WSSU students across healthcare management, education and computer science programs, said Dr. Debzani Deb, founding director of WSSU’s Center for Applied Data Science and principal investigator of the grant.
The units will cover how AI systems can fail or be attacked; how to evaluate an AI tool before adopting it; what to do when an AI system causes harm or a data breach under federal privacy laws such as HIPAA and FERPA; and the legal and ethical obligations governing AI use in public-sector settings.
Designed for integration into five existing WSSU courses, the units will require no new programs or additional institutional resources. They will include in-person and fully online versions to accommodate working professionals. The teaching materials will be freely available to other higher education institutions and written for faculty with no prior background in AI security and students who are not technology specialists.
WSSU will partner with Novant Healthcare, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Cisco, organizations that will contribute real-world case studies with content reflecting situations students will encounter in the workforce, Deb said.
In addition, 10 other WSSU faculty members, as well as 10 professors from other UNC institutions, will work on the grant, Deb said.
The additional WSSU professors will be chosen, based on their applications and interviews, by Deb and the grant’s three co-principal investigators. The co-investigators are Dr. Muztaba Fuad, the Paul Fulton Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science; Dr. Melissa Bowman Foster, a professor in the Department of Healthcare Management; and Dr. Dawn Hicks Tafari, associate professor in the Department of Education.
Dr. Tan Zhang, an assistant professor in health, physical education and sports studies, was the grant evaluator.
A primary goal of the three-year grant, which will be conducted through August 2029, is for WSSU students to graduate with a good working knowledge of how AI systems can be manipulated, as well as laws pertaining to AI use.
Deb estimated the grant will directly benefit 200 to 250 WSSU undergraduate and graduate students annually, based on enrollment in computer science, healthcare management and education courses.
AI is a rapidly changing technology, and WSSU is trying to stay abreast of it.
WSSU hosted its “RISE AI” summit in September, featuring WSSU alumna and national AI leader Dr. Siobahn Day Grady as the keynote speaker. More than 330 people attended the event at the Benton Convention Center, where 41 presentations explored AI’s growing role in education, business and society.
Plans are for the summit to become an annual event.
“AI is not a foolproof technology. It can make mistakes, and it is very easy to manipulate it,” said Deb, the RJ Reynolds Endowed Professor of Computer Science. “I want Winston-Salem State University students to be informed and responsible users of AI tools.
“There’s no question our students are using AI tools and will when they enter the workforce,” Deb continued. “But do they know when it is not working as expected, when it’s giving a biased decision or when it’s preferring one population over the other? Do they know what the law requires? That is my motivation.”
Dr. Shawn Holt, WSSU’s chief research officer and associate provost of research and innovation, heralded the NSF grant, which aligns with the first two pillars of Chancellor Bonita J. Brown’s strategic plan, “We Are Rising 2030”: Foster Student Success and Advance Academic Excellence.
“Dr. Deb’s AI Security Training and Workforce Development grant from the National Science Foundation is exactly the type of interdisciplinary research programming WSSU needs to educate the next generation,” Holt said.
Deb said the grant should have far-reaching implications.
“Whenever our students go to work in hospitals or in public services, they will know how to spot an unsafe and unfair AI,” she said. “By doing that, they will protect the children or families that depend on them.”
