Building the Next Generation of CyberAI Talent for Critical Infrastructure
The CyberAI Workforce Accelerator is a multi-institution experiential learning program designed to prepare students for cybersecurity careers in operational environments where AI, cyber risk, and critical infrastructure intersect.
The inaugural edition of the program focuses on healthcare cybersecurity. Funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) and delivered in partnership with NewPush, this first cohort will engage students from George Mason University, James Madison University, and other CCI institutions across Virginia through webinars, hands-on workshops, red-team simulations, a healthcare-focused CyberAI hackathon, and an employer-facing showcase.
About the Program
The CyberAI Workforce Accelerator is designed to create a reusable experiential learning model for preparing students to secure critical infrastructure in the era of AI. Each edition of the program may focus on a different high-consequence sector, while retaining a common structure built around student engagement, hands-on learning, practitioner mentoring, realistic scenarios, and employer-facing outcomes.
The inaugural healthcare-focused edition addresses a sector where cybersecurity failures can disrupt care delivery, expose sensitive data, compromise connected systems, and create patient-safety and operational risks. Students will learn to analyze cyber threats in realistic healthcare environments and develop practical, operationally feasible mitigations.
The program combines broad access with selective hands-on training. Students begin with a webinar series and may then apply for an intensive phase that includes guided workshops, mentored team exercises, red-team simulations, a CyberAI hackathon, and a final showcase with feedback from faculty, practitioners, and participating organizations. The program is designed to engage approximately 100 students through the webinar series. From this broader group, approximately 30 students will be selected to participate in the intensive hands-on phase, including workshops, mentored exercises, red-team simulations, the healthcare-focused CyberAI hackathon, and the final showcase. This phased structure allows the program to reach a broad student audience while also providing deeper, workforce-relevant training for a smaller cohort of selected participants.
Additional details, including webinar dates, application instructions, registration forms, mentor opportunities, and hackathon logistics, will be posted here as they become available.
Who Should Participate?
The CyberAI Workforce Accelerator is intended for undergraduate and graduate students from George Mason University, James Madison University, and other CCI institutions across Virginia who are interested in cybersecurity, AI, healthcare technology, and critical infrastructure security.
The inaugural healthcare-focused edition is especially relevant for students in cybersecurity, computer science, information technology, engineering, health informatics, human factors, data science, and related computing, security, and technology fields.
Prior exposure to introductory cybersecurity, networking, systems, usability, or related topics is recommended. Prior healthcare experience is not required. Students from related fields are encouraged to participate if they have sufficient preparation and a strong interest in healthcare cybersecurity.
Program Pathway
Students begin with a webinar series introducing healthcare cybersecurity, clinical risk, adversarial thinking, usable security, and AI-supported security analysis.
Students interested in deeper participation apply for the intensive hands-on phase. Selected students advance to workshops, mentored exercises, and team-based activities.
Selected students participate in guided training focused on healthcare threat modeling, practical security analysis, usable security, and operational risk assessment.
Student teams work on realistic healthcare cybersecurity scenarios involving connected medical devices, patient portals, clinical communication systems, hospital operations platforms, and AI-supported cyber analysis.
The program concludes with a final workshop and showcase where teams present their work, receive feedback from faculty and practitioner mentors, and engage with participating organizations.
Meet the Team
Get Involved
The CyberAI Workforce Accelerator is designed to connect students, faculty, practitioners, and employers around realistic cybersecurity challenges in healthcare and other AI-enabled critical infrastructure environments.
Students
Registration and application details will be posted on this page as they become available. Students interested in the webinar series or the intensive hands-on phase are encouraged to check back for updates.
Employers and Mentors
Healthcare organizations, digital health companies, medical technology vendors, hospital security teams, cybersecurity firms, and organizations supporting regulated or high-consequence environments are invited to participate.
Employers and mentors can support the program by helping shape realistic challenge topics, mentoring student teams, participating in review sessions, contributing to the CyberAI hackathon, joining the final showcase, and helping students understand career pathways in healthcare cybersecurity, digital health security, threat modeling, usable security, and incident response.
By participating, organizations help students connect technical cybersecurity skills with real operational constraints while engaging with emerging cyber talent across Virginia’s CCI ecosystem.