Designing the degree pathway itself: an award that joins bachelor and master
About $1.99 million to the University of Texas at El Paso, the largest of the five, setting out several pathways that connect bachelor and master degrees.
Grant overview (primary data)
- Award amount$1,990,265
- RecipientUniversity of Texas at El Paso (Texas)
- ProgramCyberAICorps SFS
- Period2026-08-01 〜 2029-07-31
- FunderU.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) / NSF
Key points
- About $1.99 million to the University of Texas at El Paso, the largest of the five from this call.
- It provides an accelerated dual degree joining a BS in Computer Science, Secure Cyber Systems, to an MS in Artificial Intelligence.
- A Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence specialising in AI-enabled cybersecurity is among several pathways.
- The five awards span about $1.73 million to $1.99 million, so institutional differences are small.
1Not what is taught but how students get through
The previous article set out why people are trained. What is concrete in this description is the route a student takes to a degree.
2The pathways provided
- 1Accelerated dual degreeA BS in Computer Science with a concentration in Secure Cyber Systems joined to an MS in Artificial Intelligence
- 2MS in AI for securityWithin the AI master, a specialisation in AI-enabled cybersecurity
- 3Several routes side by sideEntry point and destination are not narrowed to one
- 4Where the emphasis fallsOn emerging threats enabled by AI
Rather than creating a new degree, this combines existing ones to open more routes through. It can take both students moving up from undergraduate study and those entering at graduate level.
3Being the largest of the five
The five awards from this call range from about $1.73 million to about $1.99 million, and this sits at the top. The spread is roughly $260,000, so the five are close to the same size. The call is designed to stand up several centres of comparable scale rather than to weight one institution heavily.
The next article takes up an award that also sets out what follows the scholarship.
Why it matters
Reading a workforce award, the pathway design tells you more than the stated goal. How degrees are combined governs how many people actually finish.
FAQ
What is an accelerated dual degree?
Why offer several pathways?
What does the spread in amounts mean?
Sources (primary)
Source: NSF Award Search (U.S. National Science Foundation, public domain). Amounts are the obligated amount. For privacy, we do not handle principal investigator names.
- NSF Award (original, official)
- NSF Award ID: 2623034