LSU New Orleans researcher James Wagner has received a $99,586 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to develop an educational approach addressing the growing role of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity.
The project, “AI-Centered Cybersecurity Education,” responds to the increasing use of artificial intelligence in both offensive and defensive cyber operations. The award runs from June 2026 through June 2027.
Artificial intelligence is changing how cyberattacks are carried out and how organizations defend against them. Attackers can use AI to generate phishing content, assist with intrusion tools, and directly target machine learning systems. At the same time, cybersecurity professionals increasingly rely on AI-augmented analytics to identify and respond to threats.
Despite the growing reliance on AI, Louisiana’s cybersecurity workforce currently lacks dedicated training that addresses the risks associated with these technologies, including the ways AI-powered cybersecurity tools can fail or be manipulated.
Wagner’s project seeks to address that gap through AI-centered cybersecurity education, preparing students to better understand the technology from both sides of the cybersecurity landscape. The work recognizes that as AI becomes more deeply integrated into cyber operations, cybersecurity education must evolve alongside it.
