Project goal: Protect industrial and government infrastructure systems from emerging AI-based cyber threats.
THE University of North Dakota received a grant from the National Science Foundation to support its participation in the planning phase of the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Infrastructure Security in the Age of AI (ISEAI) project.
The initiative is led by George Mason University (Mason) under the guidance of the Teachers Massimiliano Albanian And Amarda Shehu. Mason has a pending Phase I proposal that, if funded by the NSF, will formally establish the center with Mason as the primary site and financial support from more than a dozen industry partners, including AWS, Peraton and GDIT.
The total grant of $18,231 will help UND College of Engineering and Mining preparing to join the center as a partner university site through coordinated planning activities aimed at building a network of industry partners and identifying industry-relevant challenges in critical infrastructure security and resiliency.
Prakash Ranganathan, associate professor of electrical engineering, Jielung Zhang, Sicong Shao And Diego Fregolent Mendes de Oliveira, all assistant professors in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and UND Cybersecurity Research Center (C2SR), are the principal investigators of the NSF grant.
This award represents a significant milestone for UND, as the university will join George Mason University as an ISEAI Center partner site. The University of Arkansas will also be a partner in the project. The research center that the universities will create aims to address critical cybersecurity challenges facing critical sectors, including energy, UAS, aviation, financial services, transportation and healthcare.
Ranganathan emphasized the importance of the planning phase of the NSF award.
“This grant will help UND strengthen collaboration with industry leaders and government partners as we focus on protecting infrastructure systems from emerging AI-driven cyber threats,” he said. he declared. “Through this initiative, we aim to develop innovative solutions that will contribute to both national security and economic stability. »
The center will leverage UND’s extensive expertise in cybersecurity, energy systems and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to address infrastructure vulnerabilities. As part of this initiative, UND will engage in a customer discovery process, conducting interviews with industry partners to understand the real-world challenges they face in protecting critical infrastructure. This information will help develop practical applications to improve infrastructure security in North Dakota and the North Central region.
ISEAI is expected to hold its planning workshop in early spring 2025. During this phase, academic and industry partners will come together to shape the strategic direction of the center and explore future collaboration opportunities. This initiative also highlights UND’s role in workforce development, engaging students at all levels of education to contribute to research and preparing them for careers in cybersecurity and infrastructure security.
This award highlights UND’s commitment to advancing AI and cybersecurity research and aligns with the university’s broader mission to promote innovation, economic development and national resilience. It could also unlock future funding to increase research into cybersecurity and infrastructure security efforts.
The Industry-University Cooperative Research Center program is administered by the NSF and aims to “generate groundbreaking research by enabling close and sustained engagement between industrial innovators, world-class academic teams, and government agencies,” according to the site IUCRC Internet.
