Nathan Kahl

One AI model, trillions of variants: Breaking mass attacks on voice assistants

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:16:20 +0000

One AI model, trillions of variants: Breaking mass attacks on voice assistants Nathan Kahl Thu, 10/15/2026 - 12:16

Imagine sitting in your home, listening to what you think is a run-of-the-mill advertisement or perhaps a piece of music you enjoy. But while you hum along, that audio file is sending a secret, malicious audio message—imperceptible to human ears—telling your home assistant to unlock your door or maybe transfer money from your bank account.

It is this stealth threat that 911�� Department of Computer Science associate professor Qiang Zeng is investigating.

"You hear one thing, but what the AI interprets is something else," Zeng said.

Zeng and PhD student Ying Meng developed a technique that could make such attacks more difficult, without slowing down devices or requiring companies to spend millions of dollars retraining their artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

He presented a paper outlining their approach, called DivNet, this summer at the prestigious 2026 ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys) in Cambridge, England.

Zeng is working on a patent for DivNet, given its broad usefulness. Photo provided

The dangers of this melodic, malicious hack are magnified because manufacturers commonly install identical AI models across millions of devices. It would be as if every house in a neighborhood had the same lock, someone possessing one key could access each home. An attacker who successfully manipulates one device could potentially use the same recording against several others.

Training sophisticated models is expensive, so companies have little incentive to create a different one for every customer. DivNet creates numerous slightly different versions of an AI model, preventing attackers from using the same malicious audio to fool multiple devices; rather than giving every device an identical defense, it makes each AI model slightly different.

The researchers accomplish this by examining the millions of numerical values, called weights, that help a neural network process information. Some weights are important for accurately recognizing ordinary speech. Others contribute little to normal recognition but are important to the success of audio attacks. DivNet identifies and selectively changes the latter.

By modifying different combinations of these weights, the researchers produce an enormous number of distinct models that continue recognizing legitimate speech accurately but respond differently to malicious recordings.

Tests using established speech-recognition systems found that DivNet substantially reduced the success of attacks while causing minimal reductions in normal recognition accuracy. Unlike many existing defenses, DivNet also adds no processing time when a device recognizes speech. After an initial analysis, generating a new variant takes only milliseconds. The number of possible variants exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the observable universe, offering an enormous pool of alternatives. Even a single voice assistant can periodically switch variants, making attacks even harder to develop and reuse.

And perhaps its biggest practical advantage is cost. "Every time you train the AI system, it's very expensive because you need the GPU," Zeng said, referring to the powerful processors used to develop AI models.

The researchers created the DivNet project website with demonstrations and technical information, including audio examples showing how identical malicious recordings produce different results across model variants.

Zeng, who started a recent meeting about this research by casually addressing his home assistant with "Alexa, good morning," activating the lights in his home, recognizes the benefits as a consumer himself; he owns five Alexa speakers, by his count.

He said the team is pursuing commercialization, believing the approach could interest major technology companies. "We are applying for patents because we think it has some value."

And for users of the ever-expanding AI assistants, that’s music—and ONLY music—to their ears.

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Research in Action

In This Story

Qiang Zeng

Topics

computer science

AI hacking

Artificial Intelligence

Research

patent

Statistical sleuthing strengthens medical records

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 16:23:13 +0000

Statistical sleuthing strengthens medical records Nathan Kahl Mon, 10/12/2026 - 12:23

Accurate records are key to a safe, well-run health care system. But getting databases to communicate well even within the same system can be an uphill battle. And when they do talk, there must be processes in place to ensure that the entry for a “John Q. Public” in one database is the same as the “John Q. Public” in another. Otherwise, medical mistakes can happen, and John Quincy might get the drug meant for John Quentin.

That challenging problem is the focus of a new project led by Brenda Betancourt, an associate professor in 911��'s Department of Statistics. Funded by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the project will examine how researchers assess and report the uncertainty that arises when records from different sources are linked.

Betancourt will apply Bayesian statistical models, her research focus, for the project. Photo provided

In the FDA's case, that could mean combining electronic health records from medical providers with Medicare claims, pharmacy records, and other sources. Linking those sources can give researchers richer information about a patient's experience with a drug, medical device, or treatment.

But doing that accurately can be difficult, and small details can make a big difference. For example, a person's first and middle names might appear in one database but only a first name in another. An address may change. Other identifying information may be missing or inconsistent. Two people, such as a father and son, could even share the same name.

“You have a high probability when names appear to match, that those are the same person, but there is no way to confirm,” Betancourt said. “If important information, such as date of birth, is missing, you cannot distinguish between them. What I want to do is evaluate how the linkage quality and the uncertainty that comes with it is evaluated, reported, and incorporated into regulatory inference.”

Record linkage was included in an FDA announcement seeking proposals because the issue cuts across many of the agency's responsibilities, from medical devices to rare diseases. The FDA was interested in data linked by outside sponsors, such as pharmaceutical companies conducting post-market surveillance of their products.

Betancourt said the agency wants the resulting framework to help those organizations understand what information they should report and what potential problems they should consider when conducting linkage studies.

“We want to share it with sponsors to guide them through what they need to be reporting. It will tell them what to take into consideration when they are doing their linkage studies,” she said. It would also provide FDA reviewers with a way to evaluate those studies and determine whether uncertainty in the linkage could affect their conclusions.

The problem extends well beyond any single type of medical data. Health care providers themselves may use different electronic record systems at different locations, making it difficult to connect information even within the same health system.

“Sometimes each location even has a different electronic health record system that is not standardized,” Betancourt said. “You can go to the same big umbrella health system, go to two different locations, and your data is not going to be synced.”

A universal identifier across databases would make matching records far easier, but often no such identifier exists. That leaves researchers piecing together records using information that may itself be incomplete or inconsistent.

Betancourt will begin the FDA project by examining the record-linkage methods currently being used in studies submitted by sponsors. That review will help determine the statistical approaches she uses later in the project.

Which approach proves most useful will depend on what Betancourt finds when she digs into those records. When medical decisions depend on getting John Quincy's records rather than John Quentin's, the devil, as they say, is in the details.

Topics

Statistics

Medical Records

Food and Drug Administration

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

GCI-Health

Microgrids meet the market

Nathan Kahl — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:47:36 +0000

Microgrids meet the market Nathan Kahl Fri, 10/02/2026 - 08:47

For a large organization, cutting the electric bill isn't necessarily as simple as using less electricity. In fact, avoiding one brief spike in demand can save far more money than reducing overall consumption.

Alex Brodsky, a professor in the Department of Computer Science. Photo provided

Alex Brodsky, a professor in the 911�� Department of Computer Science, and his research team developed technology that can help organizations make complex decisions about how to manage energy resources and evaluate potential investments.

A $50,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant through its Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program is helping Brodsky explore how to move that technology from research to market. I-Corps teaches researchers to evaluate the commercial potential of technologies developed through academic research. Participants identify possible markets and customers and conduct at least 100 interviews with those potential customers.

“The interviews are instrumental,” Brodsky said. “Some of your hypotheses turn out to be false, while other things you hadn't considered turn out to be true.”

Much of this I-Corps work is being led by Xu (Ethan) Han, a former PhD student of Brodsky's who is now a faculty member in 911��'s Department of Computer Science. Han serves as an entrepreneurial lead for the project, called Microgrid Optima.

Microgrids coordinate multiple energy resources within a local energy system. They can integrate electricity from the power grid with on-site generation, energy storage, building systems, and other energy resources.

Microgrid Optima helps determine how those resources should work together. Instead of relying primarily on preset operating schedules, the system can recommend what individual components should do at intervals throughout the day. It can also help organizations decide which new energy resources make financial sense before making potentially expensive investments. Many commercial and industrial customers’ electric bills are determined not by just how much electricity they use, but also by what their peak demand is; a short period of unusually high demand can significantly affect future bills.

An organization might thus choose to use a battery during a demand spike and recharge it later. “Energy storage by itself doesn't save the total amount of energy you use,” Brodsky said, but this strategy may reduce peak usage enough to produce substantial savings. As a result, investing in an expensive battery can sometimes quickly pay for itself.

The challenge is figuring out when such an investment makes sense and how it interacts with everything else in the system. “Thinking of how you invest in each component in isolation is a bad approach, because the components have a very strong operational interaction,” he said.

The team is exploring a range of potential markets for the technology, with the I-Corps interviews helping identify which types of organizations and energy environments present the strongest opportunities. One seemingly obvious market, data centers, is less promising because their operators place a much higher priority on securing enough electrical capacity than on reducing costs.

Microgrid Optima draws on decision-guidance technology Brodsky's research group developed over many years and applied to problems ranging from energy and autonomous vehicles to pandemic response. During the COVID pandemic, Brodsky worked with 911�� epidemiologist Amira Roess in the College of Public Health to develop a system for evaluating combinations of testing, contact tracing, symptom reporting, and other mitigation measures. The university adopted many of the team's recommendations.

The I-Corps program could be an early step toward bringing the latest application of that technology to customers. After the team's interviews help identify its most promising market, Brodsky said, other federal programs, including Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer funding, could provide routes toward commercialization.

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Alex Brodsky

Topics

computer science

I-Corps

National Science Foundation

Energy

Tech Transfer

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

Patriot parking predictions putting students in the proper spot

Nathan Kahl — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 22:30:56 +0000

Patriot parking predictions putting students in the proper spot Nathan Kahl Wed, 09/23/2026 - 18:30

College students are already under a load of stress with classes, tests, and presentations. So when something as “easy” as finding a parking spot is anything but, it can cause a bad start to an already challenging day.

With that in mind, a team of 911�� students developed an app that uses data and artificial intelligence (AI) to remove the guesswork and save students from those interminable trips to the top of a parking garage, only to find it’s completely full.

Parkeye predicts parking availability, helps users find lots that match their permits, and provides information about parking changes and closures. The app was created by computer science students Tona Otoro and Sami Saleh, with support from computer science students Shabeer Manalai, Trong-Tin Mai, and Rafsan Islam, and Aayusha Sapkota from the Costello College of Business.

The idea grew out of a familiar student experience: arriving on campus without knowing where to park. “Everyone's kind of having this similar problem,” Manalai said. The team did market research by surveying students around campus and found that many students struggled with everything from finding open spaces to understanding parking regulations.

The team then approached 911��'s Parking and Transportation office, which provided five years of parking data that became a foundation for the app.

“We frequently partner with students on class projects and what made the Parkeye team unique was that they pursued this project independently, outside of a formal class or research program,” said Josh Cantor, director of Parking and Transportation. “We applaud the students' initiative and innovative approach; their crowdsourcing model reflects the kind of creative thinking that can contribute to future parking technology solutions. We are evaluating a variety of approaches, including crowdsourcing, camera-based technologies, and space sensors to help improve the parking experience for our campus community."

The app considers about two dozen factors when predicting parking availability, including historical data, class schedules, weather, the distance between lots and buildings, and the number of classes taking place during particular time periods. As more people use the app, the team can incorporate additional data and retrain its models.

Saleh said the initial model achieved approximately 91% accuracy against the parking data provided by the university. The developers also have testers visit parking areas to compare actual availability with the app's predictions, using those results to continue refining the model.

And the app does more than predict whether a lot is crowded. Users can filter parking by space type, including electric vehicle charging spaces, and receive updates about lot closures and other changes that could affect parking.

Users appear interested. The app launched September 2 and has around 600 users as of this writing. Much of that early growth came through social media, including an Instagram video with more than 30,000 views.

The team is already looking beyond Fairfax. The app includes parking information for James Madison University and Virginia Tech, and the students are reaching out to other universities about potential partnerships.

They are also beginning to think like entrepreneurs. The students registered an LLC and are working toward becoming a Virginia vendor, which could eventually allow them to establish a formal partnership with 911��. They have also met with leadership of 911��'s MIX Incubator about joining its entrepreneurship program.

“Meeting Sami and Tona underscored the energy and determination they bring to their parking‑prediction app,” said Gisele Stolz, senior director, entrepreneurship programs. “We are thrilled to support students with this level of motivation and vision, and we hope their journey mirrors the successes achieved by other standout MIX teams.”

Stolz explained that through the MIX Innovators Launchpad, students receive mentoring, structured entrepreneurial guidance, some funding to support early discovery work, and the opportunity to compete for prize money as they advance their ideas. Paired with the NSF I‑Corps short course, the program teaches teams how to translate technical insights into market‑ready solutions with the help of seasoned mentors.

Eventually, Saleh sees applications well beyond college campuses, including hospitals, malls, stadiums and other places where drivers face the same basic question. “It's not just being able to see where parking is, it's being able to see the right parking spot for each user.”

Topics

Apps

student businesses

Parking and Transportation

computer science

entrepreneurship

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

New 911�� professor connects weather, water, and the communities they affect

Nathan Kahl — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:59:35 +0000

New 911�� professor connects weather, water, and the communities they affect Nathan Kahl Fri, 09/11/2026 - 08:59

During her postdoctoral research in Oklahoma, new 911�� College of Engineering and Computing Assistant Professor Taereem Kim was on the phone with her mother in South Korea. Her mother mentioned heavy rain they were experiencing there, while Kim was seeing similar conditions where she lived. This got her thinking about how weather patterns separated by enormous distances can be connected and, more importantly, how those large-scale atmospheric connections translate into local effects.

Taereem Kim. Photo provided

For Kim, who joined the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering this semester, weather is more than a forecast. It’s a connection between information and the people who need it and even between people living on opposite sides of the globe.

Kim’s research involves hydroclimatology, the interdisciplinary study of the interactions between Earth's climate system and the hydrologic cycle, and water resources engineering. And her focus is to make it all accessible and useful. “My goal is translating complex weather and climate information into something communities can use to support their decision-making. We live in a world with tons of information, but I want people to understand and easily get the information they need,” she said

She did not initially envision becoming a professor, but her mentors in the United States changed that. “Working with two particular advisors gave me the ambition to be a faculty member,” she said. “They showed me how to be a good mentor, how to make a positive impact on a person's life, and how to build a fulfilling career while also prioritizing family.” This semester she is teaching her first full-semester class, an experience she is greatly enjoying.

Kim's daughter starting her research early at her mother's poster session. Photo provided.

She credits her parents with helping to shape her career. They also work in water resources engineering, which made the field feel familiar to Kim from an early age and helped foster her interest in it. They have also been trusted advisors throughout her career. “They are not just my good friends, but also good colleagues I can talk with about both life and work,” she said.

Kim hopes ultimately to connect atmospheric science, which seeks to understand phenomena such as tropical cyclones, with engineering, which asks what those phenomena will mean for people and communities. “We need to care about our communities, the hazards they face, and the impact on us, our families, and our friends,” she said.

Kim is enjoying her new home in Northern Virginia, where she moved with her family. She said the diversity here, including its large Korean community, is making the transition easier. At home, Kim speaks Korean with her young daughter and hopes growing up surrounded by people from many backgrounds will help her daughter feel comfortable with her Korean and American identities.

Parenthood has transformed Kim’s life outside academia as well. Before her daughter was born, she enjoyed traveling, yoga, and drawing. These days, her answer when asked about her hobbies is singularly focused: “Parenting.”

As she “weathers” that challenge, she continues to help her neighbors prepare for what’s next.

Topics

Department of Civil Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering (CEIE)

civil engineering; stormwater infrastructure; climate variability

weather event

Climate

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

Sustainability

Autonomous blimps take flight at EagleBank Arena: 2nd annual Airborne Robotics Cup inspires future STEM innovators

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 19:04:00 +0000

Autonomous blimps take flight at EagleBank Arena: 2nd annual Airborne Robotics Cup inspires future STEM innovators Nathan Kahl Tue, 09/08/2026 - 15:04

The floor of EagleBank Arena buzzed with high-tech aerial excitement on August 15 as 911�� hosted the culmination of the second annual Airborne Robotics Cup (ARC 2026). The STEM outreach competition ran an intense 12-hour tournament featuring dynamic, lighter-than-air autonomous blimp “soccer” matches.

Lighter-than-air vehicles prepare for battle. Photo credit Yidi Huang.

ARC was founded and organized by Ningshi Yao, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and director of the Control, Intelligent Autonomy, and Optimization (CIAO) Lab. It was co-organized by the Capital Youth Outreach Club (CYOC).

The initiative serves as a core component of Yao’s National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. As part of the award’s integrated education plan, it translates university research in robotics, control theory, and autonomous systems into transformative hands-on learning for K-12 students, with vital venue, equipment, and organizational backing from the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC).

The tournament received enthusiastic support and on-site participation from CEC leadership and its academic departments. Ariela Sofer, divisional dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering, kicked off the morning session by encouraging students to pursue curiosity and explore the expansive possibilities within engineering. During the evening awards ceremony, Amarda Shehu, associate dean for research, celebrated the students’ accomplishments and underscored the transformative impact of early engagement with robotics and artificial intelligence, alongside Alex Sprintson, ECE chair, who recognized the exceptional ingenuity and technical rigor demonstrated by the competitors.

Alex Sprintson, ECE department Chair; Ariela Sofer, divisional dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering; student Ningshi Yao; student Aaron Liu; and Capital Youth Outreach Club co-organizer Jun Zhao. Photo credit John Liu.

Adding to the strong departmental support, Pelin Kurtay, ECE associate chair, attended to engage with participants and cheer on the young roboticists. Leigh McCue, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, joined the morning awards session to deliver encouraging remarks on multidisciplinary engineering and present awards to the winning teams across the morning’s two competition groups.

Building on last year's debut success, ARC expanded exponentially in 2026. The program received more than 180 applications, and through a highly competitive selection process, 16 talented finalist teams comprising more than 80 middle and high school students earned spots in the tournament.

Rather than a standalone one-day competition, ARC represents a comprehensive two-month summer engineering program. Over the past seven weeks, students dedicated their weekends to four intensive in-person training sessions and four hands-on practice sessions at MARC. Led by Yao, alongside ECE PhD student Ahnaf Asif Khan, graduate student Yojan Gautam, and former 911�� Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program participants Adam Bhatti and Harry Yu, the mentorship team taught students foundational mechatronics skills from the ground up, including soldering, assembling basic blimp kits, embedded programming, and custom 3D printing.

Student leadership and authentic engineering problem-solving took center stage throughout ARC2026. Reflecting on the engineering hurdles of lighter-than-air robotics, Lucas Liu, a junior from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and captain of Team 14, noted, "Working with blimps taught our team very quickly that every single gram matters. Through constant iteration, we redesigned parts and switched to lighter microcontrollers, bringing the total weight down to 70% of the original."

Aaron Liu, captain of Team 12 and representing his team from Luther Jackson Middle School, echoed the value of hands-on troubleshooting, "Building and flying a robot is a lot more complicated than watching one fly. Engineering problems don’t always happen when it's convenient, and solutions don't come linearly. You just have to keep going one step at a time," said Aaron.

Reflecting on the broader impact and purpose of the initiative, Yao emphasized the long-term growth of the participants. "ARC is far more than just a competition," said Yao. "It is a launchpad for lifelong skills, including problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, and resilience. Today is a celebration of taking ideas from concept to reality, embracing setbacks, and learning through hands-on trial and error."

Winning teams celebrate their achievements alongside faculty and mentors during the awards presentation. Photo credit Yidi Huang.

That transformative experience resonated strongly with families across the community. "Your continuous support, patience, guidance, and extra effort meant so much to them and to us as parents," shared Sisi Jou, parent of Team 15 competitor Skylon Jou. "Skylon already said he definitely wants to participate again next year and hopes to come back even stronger!"

Building on the tremendous energy and success of this second edition, the CIAO Lab and its partners are already preparing to expand ARC for summer 2027 by increasing team capacity, broadening community outreach, and continuing to cement 911�� as a premier hub for youth robotics innovation.

Learn more about 911��'s Autonomy and Robotics Lab

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lighter-than-air robotics

Electrical and Computer Engineering

STEM outreach

EagleBank Arena

robotics

Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center

National Science Foundation

Students

Designing deeper data center defense

Nathan Kahl — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:25:30 +0000

Designing deeper data center defense Nathan Kahl Thu, 09/03/2026 - 21:25

In This Story

Kai Zeng

Liling Huang

As artificial intelligence (AI) drives rapid growth in data centers, the facilities powering the technology are becoming more complex, more valuable, and potentially more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Two 911�� researchers want to help close security gaps before attackers can exploit them.

Liling Huang. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Kai Zeng and Liling Huang, a professor and associate professor, respectively, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are developing new approaches to protect AI data centers from threats ranging from insiders stealing valuable AI models to cyberattacks against the systems controlling a facility’s power and cooling.

Zeng and Huang received $100,000 from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Northern Virginia Node for “Defense-in-Depth Cyber-Physical Security for AI Data Centers.” The one-year project examines vulnerabilities that traditional cybersecurity approaches may not fully address, including the increasingly complicated intersection of information technology, operational technology, and building-management systems.

“It’s a very urgent and emerging topic,” Zeng said. “Just look at how many new AI data centers are built every year, every month.” The issue has particular resonance in Virginia, which has the world’s largest concentration of data center infrastructure and is rapidly becoming a hub for large-scale AI computing.

AI data centers present new challenges because the systems differ from conventional data centers, Huang said. Operators in traditional facilities have years of experience understanding normal activity, making anomalies easy to identify. With AI infrastructure, that baseline is still developing.

“With AI data centers, we are still learning about their operational behavior and how it affects both behind-the-meter electrical systems and the broader power grid,” Huang said. “This uncertainty makes cybersecurity more challenging because, when abnormal behavior occurs, it can be difficult to distinguish a cyberattack from a legitimate equipment or power-system issue.”

The researchers will investigate three areas. One is communication among the clusters of graphics processing units (GPUs) used for AI computing. Their extremely fast connections can make monitoring activity difficult. “It’s harder to monitor the traffic exchange there between the GPUs, which could be a kind of blind spot from a security perspective,” Zeng said.

Another focus is protecting what’s known as “checkpoints,” snapshots of an AI model’s state created during training. Training a large AI model can take weeks. At intervals, the system saves the model's current state, including what it has learned so far. That saved state is the checkpoint, which can contain valuable intellectual property, making them potential targets for tampering or insider attacks. The researchers plan to explore whether data collected from systems throughout the data center, known as telemetry, can help verify that a checkpoint is authentic.

Kai Zeng. Photo by Office of University Branding

The third area involves the boundary between IT systems and operational technology, including systems controlling power and cooling. “Someone does not necessarily have to directly hack into the server, because they can just disrupt the building management system,” Zeng said.

The project benefits from the researchers’ complementary expertise. Huang explained that cybersecurity practices have traditionally been more mature in information technology systems, while operational technology has emphasized reliability, safety, availability, and engineering performance. Zeng brings cybersecurity expertise, while Huang contributes expertise in AI data centers, electrical and mechanical systems, and the power grid. Together, they will work to strengthen cybersecurity protections for the operational technology systems of AI data centers.

The team plans to produce a data center threat model, prototype security technologies, experimental results, and at least one peer-reviewed publication. The seed project is also intended to position the researchers for larger federal and industry-funded projects.

Zeng hopes the initial investment can provide the foundation for something considerably larger. “We can apply later to turn this $100,000 project into, potentially, $1 million,” he said. “Start small, but scale up, and scale big.”

Topics

Cyber Security

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Artificial Intelligence

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

data centers

911�� researcher brings critical AI literacy program to Prince George’s County

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:18:35 +0000

911�� researcher brings critical AI literacy program to Prince George’s County Nathan Kahl Mon, 08/31/2026 - 18:18

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly transforms society, 911�� researcher Thema Monroe-White is helping prepare the next generation not just to use the technology, but to navigate it thoughtfully and responsibly. Her work empowers students to understand AI's opportunities, limitations, and consequences, giving them the agency to make informed choices in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Thema Monroe-White. Photo provided

Monroe-White, an associate professor with appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Schar School of Policy and Government, is part of a new $1 million initiative aimed at helping Prince George’s County students understand not only how to use AI, but how AI works, who it affects, and when it should and should not be used.

The project is funded by the Pull Up Fund, a philanthropic organization focused on supporting youth in Prince George’s County through its Youth AI Mastery and Proficiency initiative. 911�� is working with Ashley Griffin Gilchrist at Bowie State University and Evan Shieh at the Young Data Scientists League (YDSL) on the project. The initial award covers a one-year pilot, with the potential for two additional years of funding.

For Monroe-White, “AI mastery” shouldn't simply mean becoming proficient at using the latest AI platform. “To have or gain AI mastery requires not that you know how to prompt any given model,” she said. Instead, students should understand some of the technical machinery underneath AI, including how models generate outputs, as well as the human and social systems surrounding the technology.

That approach, known as critical AI literacy, asks students to examine issues such as algorithmic bias, labor, privacy, surveillance, environmental impacts, and the human work involved in creating AI systems. It also encourages them to question the technology itself rather than treating AI as a mysterious digital oracle.

“What does it mean? What is it doing? How is it operating? How is it affecting my life?” Monroe-White said.

The Prince George’s County initiative builds on work Monroe-White recently completed with New York City Public Schools and YDSL. Through the Exploring Equity in AI fellowship, educators explored ways to bring critical AI literacy into K-12 classrooms. The program defines AI literacy as encompassing not merely using AI, but “critiquing, researching, evaluating, (re)designing, and reimagining AI.”

The New York effort included topics ranging from AI and consent and algorithmic auditing to data centers and questions about how “intelligent” artificial intelligence actually is. Monroe-White and YDSL Executive Director Evan Shieh served as facilitators of the Critical AI component. Monroe-White is also an external research collaborator with YDSL.

After completing the New York pilot and a public showcase in June, Monroe-White saw the Prince George’s County project as an opportunity to expand the approach closer to home.

“We wanted to expand it and keep the work going,” she said. “And so that’s what we’re doing with Maryland and this county.”

Ultimately, Monroe-White wants young people to understand the technology well enough to make informed decisions about it themselves. Students, she said, should graduate “armed and equipped with the knowledge that most don’t have that demystifies AI,” allowing them to engage in meaningful conversations about when AI is appropriate and what consequences its use might have.

“It’s more of an agency-based training,” Monroe-White said. “It’s lifting up their own individual agency so that they’re empowered in this revolutionary moment.”

In This Story

Thema Monroe-White

Explore AI at 911��

Topics

Artificial Intelligence

Research

K-12 Partnerships

College of Engineering and Computing

Schar School of Policy and Government

GCI-Education

Young engineers compete, building from the ground (and) up

Nathan Kahl — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:41:52 +0000

Young engineers compete, building from the ground (and) up Nathan Kahl Wed, 08/19/2026 - 13:41

Over the course of two Saturdays in August, 911�� electrical and computer engineering Assistant Professor Ningshi Yao tested the idea that competition yields strong results. She designed two very different engineering challenges for local pre-college students, one sending student-built ground vehicles racing across a soccer field and the other taking to the skies.

"We want to develop a course or training program that's more hands-on and learning through hands-on projects," Yao said.

“Whether it’s on the ground or in the air, engineering isn't just about formulas on paper—it's about learning through iteration, embracing setbacks, and building things that work in the real world," Yao said. "These programs give young minds early exposure to authentic engineering challenges, empowering them to discover their passions, build resilience, and see themselves as the next generation of roboticists and innovators.”

High school teams test autonomous blimp designs during hands-on practice sessions at MARC. Photo provided.

The first event, the NEXT Competition on August 7, capped a seven-week summer experience for 16 high school students participating in 911��'s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP). The students helped Yao pilot a new mechatronics curriculum developed through a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

The curriculum uses a flipped-classroom model. Students learn concepts outside the lab through lectures and select online videos, then spend their time together applying those concepts. Lessons cover topics ranging from sensors and mechanical drive trains to projectile motion and radio communication. "The class time will be when they come into the lab and really build a ground vehicle," Yao said.

The culminating competition tests far more than whether the vehicles move. Teams face off for 90 minutes on a soccer field scattered with 200 tennis balls. Their robots must collect the balls and shoot them into designated buckets while also contending with opposing vehicles. Teams can even fire balls at competitors to temporarily knock them out of action. That forces students to consider offense, defense, communications, vehicle maintenance and strategy while responding to problems they couldn't predict beforehand.

"They need to quickly fix things," Yao said. "They also need to think about communication, because the range is easily more than 150 meters. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth may not be enough, so they need to learn radio communication."

The ASSIP students were more than participants. Because the ONR grant was awarded only in April, they served as the first test group for a curriculum ultimately intended to stand on its own.

"We're using the high school interns as a pilot to test this curriculum," Yao said. "Meanwhile, they can identify the research problems they want to work on."

Just one week later, Yao shifted from ground robots to flying ones. On Saturday, August 15, more than 100 students were at EagleBank Arena for the second annual Airborne Robotics Cup (ARCup), a competition Yao founded to engage middle and high school students in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Teams of students in grades 8 through 12 spent approximately two months designing, building, and programming lightweight robotic blimps before competing in a soccer-style game. The blimp platform introduces students to CAD, 3D printing, programming, aerodynamics, stability, buoyancy, and robotics while remaining safe enough to operate around competitors and spectators.

Reminiscent of the collegiate-level Defend the Republic competition, students use the lighter-than-air devices to play a game reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Quidditch. Students receive mentorship from members of Yao's robotics research team, and top performers may pursue research internships.

Yao's commitment to ARCup recently received another boost. Her new NSF CAREER Award includes support for continuing and expanding the competition as part of the educational component of her research.

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911�� prepares to launch new PhD in Cybersecurity

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:57:39 +0000

911�� prepares to launch new PhD in Cybersecurity Nathan Kahl Mon, 08/17/2026 - 12:57

911�� will soon offer a new doctoral degree in cybersecurity, a milestone reflecting both the rapid evolution of the cybersecurity field and the continued growth of the university's Department of Cyber Security Engineering (CYSE). The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) approved the new PhD program in July.

"This is not just an administrative accomplishment," said CYSE Chair Paulo Cesar Costa. "It is an important recognition of the strength, maturity, and future direction of our department. It marks a major step forward in our ability to educate students in cybersecurity with the engineering depth and systems perspective that define CYSE."

He said, “The main challenge we faced with SCHEV was that we had to explain how cybersecurity was already a discipline of its own.” He points to the history of computer science as a useful comparison. Decades ago, computer science existed within electrical engineering before technological advances created the need for dedicated departments and schools. "We were able to convince SCHEV that the new discipline is actually overdue already."

As society becomes increasingly dependent on internet-connected devices, automated systems, and artificial intelligence (AI), the field is expanding beyond defending computer networks. "Cybersecurity includes a lot more than just hacking computers. There's the human factor, there's policymaking, there's how we train people. And now with the advent of AI, it basically turned around all the knowledge that we had about cybersecurity."

Cyberattacks that once required months of planning by highly skilled teams can now be executed far more quickly using AI agents, while researchers are already seeing examples of AI systems exploiting vulnerabilities in other AI systems.

"Cybersecurity and AI are no longer adjacent problems,” said Amarda Shehu, vice president and chief AI officer for the university. “AI supplies new defenses and new attack surfaces, and that demands researchers trained in engineering depth rather than in tools that expire. 911�� has been at the forefront of cybersecurity engineering for years, and this doctorate is the next step—producing those researchers at a public university whose obligation is to widen access to such expertise."

Costa said, "The whole discipline is evolving so fast that if we don't focus on this and get prepared, it's not that the CYSE department is not going to succeed. It's that the country will not have the capable cybersecurity professionals it needs."

For Costa, the PhD program is the latest step in a journey that began more than a decade ago. "When the cybersecurity department was created, it was created in a very unconventional way," he said. "It was created as a result of our own success in the bachelor's program."

The bachelor's degree launched in 2015 as a standalone academic program, with courses taught by faculty from other departments; enrollment quickly exceeded expectations. "It exploded in success," Costa said. "When it crossed 400 students, the dean's office created a new department."

The department later added a master's program, but Costa knew that “any department seeking to be known for its excellence has to have its own PhD program."

By 2023, he believed the department had the necessary infrastructure. "When I became chair, I allocated a lot of resources to start that program; it requires a lot more than just one guy writing stuff," Costa said.

Costa credited CYSE Professor Zhengdao Wang and Assistant Professor Tanvir Arafin for their extensive work developing and refining the proposal.

Wang said the program is designed to educate the next generation of cybersecurity experts. "We have an interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes security by design, integrates AI throughout the curriculum and research, and prepares graduates to address emerging challenges. The program will translate fundamental discoveries into practical solutions while strengthening the cybersecurity workforce and research enterprise.”

The college will implement a recruitment plan for the program soon, and it will be listed on the University Catalog in the near future.

Learn more about the College of Engineering and Computing

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