Photo by Aubrey Carr | The Crow’s Nest
By Riley Benson
The University of South Florida announced plans to create a college dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and computing across all three USF campuses, anticipated to open fall of 2025.
USF is the first university in Florida, and among the first in the nation to have a college focused on AI. Their plan for the new college is to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field.
Earlier this month, USF President Rhea Law announced USF’s state budget was approved by the legislation, including significant support for USF projects. Among one of the projects, pending approval from Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, is a “A $50 million recurring increase to USF’s operational budget to support the work of each of our three campuses and USF Health, as well as to expand cybersecurity research and the cyber workforce.”
A press release for the announcement cited expert opinions from the University of Oxford and ISC2, the world’s leading member association for cybersecurity professionals, as to why introducing the new college shows potential. As “there has been a five-fold increase in the demand for AI skills with jobs in the U.S., while more than 40% of organizations experiencing a shortage of cybersecurity professionals say they are unable to find enough qualified talent.”
“As AI and cybersecurity quickly evolve, the demand for professionals skilled in these areas continues to grow, along with the need for more research to better understand how to utilize powerful new technologies in ways that improve our society,” Law said in the press release.
USF reported that they are also seeing major growth in funding for these fields as, just last year the “National Science Foundation reportedly awarded more than $800 million for AI-related research.”
As the university continues to form the new college, it will be consulting with faculty members. There are current about 200 faculty that are currently working in research in the relating fields of AI, cybersecurity and computing, according to the press release.
There is a taskforce that will aid in the creation of the college that will “help advance USF’s academic and research excellence in AI.”
Sudeep Sarkar, a Distinguished University Professor and Department Chair of the College of Engineering, is the chair of the taskforce, with Pritish Mukherjee, the Vice Provost for Strategy, Institutional Excellence and Faculty Success and a Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences, as co-chair.
While there are several government processes pending to be completed, ideally, USF would like to open the college in the fall of 2025.
