Texas AI Docket

National Science Foundation names UT El Paso in the first round of CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service awards

Health and educationU.S. National Science FoundationEl PasoWrite to the decider

The National Science Foundation announced the first awards under its CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program on July 28th, 2026. The University of Texas at El Paso is on the list. UTEP's award is for a project on building an AI-integrated cybersecurity workforce. The scholarships cover tuition and pay an academic year stipend. Recipients owe one year of government service for each year of funding. Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Dallas also received inaugural awards, which puts three of the first round institutions in Texas.

How to take part

Students apply through UTEP's Department of Computer Science. That department publishes eligibility rules, stipend amounts and the service obligation on its Scholarship for Service program page. The award itself was an agency decision with no public comment step.

Where to do it

Where

1 county. In El Paso.

Timeline

  1. ordered

    NSF announced the first CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service awards

  2. Today

How this decision moved

One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.

  1. 2026-08-19

    The federal designation is unconfirmed against the university's own program page. That page names the university a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and does not attribute the scholarship program to the National Science Foundation.

  2. 2026-08-22

    Checked and unchanged. The federal award announcement still names the university in the first round of CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service awards. The attribution against the university's own program page is still unconfirmed.

  3. 2026-08-26

    Checked and unchanged. The award to UT El Paso still stands in the first round of the program. The senator's statement about training students in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence skills is still published.

  4. 2026-08-29

    Checked and unchanged. The award to the University of Texas at El Paso still stands in the agency's first round. The training it funds is still cybersecurity and artificial intelligence together rather than either alone.

  5. 2026-09-02

    The award stands and the agency's announcement still names the university among the first round of this scholarship program.

  6. 2026-09-05

    El Paso's place in the first round of the federal cyber and AI scholarship program still stands as named.

  7. 2026-09-08

    UT El Paso still holds its place in the first round of CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service awards, and the award description is unchanged.

  8. 2026-09-09

    UT El Paso still holds its place in the first round of CyberAICorps awards, on the terms the foundation announced.

  9. 2026-09-12

    UT El Paso still holds its place in the first round of CyberAICorps awards, on the terms the foundation announced.

  10. 2026-09-13

    UT El Paso still holds its award in the first round, and the foundation's list of awardees still names it.

  11. 2026-09-16

    The scholarship award naming UT El Paso still stands as made, and the university's own program page still carries it. Nothing has changed the award.

  12. 2026-09-19

    The scholarship award to the El Paso campus stands as it was made.

  13. 2026-09-24

    The El Paso campus is still named among the scholarship awards as the foundation made them.

  14. 2026-09-27

    The foundation's award list still names the El Paso campus in the first round, and the campus page still describes the program.

  15. 2026-09-30

    The foundation's first round of awards still names UT El Paso, and the university's own program page still describes the scholarship.

The evidence

Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.

Through the CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program, NSF is investing in the talent needed to secure today's digital infrastructure and AI-enabled technologies
NSF announces first awards to advance AI and cybersecurity education and workforce development through CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service Program Primary source, official · nsf.gov
$37,000 per academic year for graduate students
UTEP's CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service Program Primary source, official · utep.edu
We must take steps to defend against cyberattacks by training students with the AI and cybersecurity skills needed to protect our critical technology systems.
UTEP to receive nearly $2 million to improve cybersecurity and AI training, KVIA Journalism · kvia.com

Questions about this decision

Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.

What is this decision?

The National Science Foundation announced the first awards under its CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service program on July 28th, 2026. The University of Texas at El Paso is on the list. UTEP's award is for a project on building an AI-integrated cybersecurity workforce. The scholarships cover tuition and pay an academic year stipend. Recipients owe one year of government service for each year of funding. Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Dallas also received inaugural awards, which puts three of the first round institutions in Texas.

Who decides it?

U.S. National Science Foundation decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.

Can the public take part?

Students apply through UTEP's Department of Computer Science. That department publishes eligibility rules, stipend amounts and the service obligation on its Scholarship for Service program page. The award itself was an agency decision with no public comment step. No dated public window is on the record. The deciding body is named and reachable.

Where in Texas does it apply?

It covers El Paso County in the El Paso, TX area.

Has it been decided?

It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.

What happens next?

No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was ordered on July 28th.

When did it start?

The earliest date on its record is July 28th, 2026.

What kind of decision is it?

It is filed under health and education.

What sources back it?

Three sources back it. Two of them are primary.

Is it on the ERCOT grid?

No. It sits outside the ERCOT interconnection.

When was it last checked?

Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 30th, 2026.

Cite this

Texas AI Docket, National Science Foundation names UT El Paso in the first round of CyberAICorps Scholarship for Service awards. Tracked since July 28th, 2026. Last verified September 30th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0039/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0039.

Beat

Filed under Health and education, with every other decision on that beat.

Last checked 2026-09-30