A Collaborative Case Study: Increasing Undergraduate Research in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity in Under-resourced Environment

The current under-representation of minority scholars in critical STEM fields necessitates targeted interventions, making the low engagement of researchers from under-represented groups a profound societal and technological deficiency that perpetuates bias in Artificial Intelligence systems and limits innovation.To directly address this gap, this project establishes a strategic, capacity-building partnership between two universities that predominantly serve under-represented populations, aiming to aggressively increase research capacity in the high-demand, high-impact domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybersecurity.Our core motivation is (a) to empower existing faculty with the expertise and infrastructure necessary to lead cutting-edge research and, crucially, (b) to attract and funnel undergraduate computing students into sustained research careers in these fields.Two institutions are working jointly on the highly relevant Adversarial Patch Attack research project, where faculty and students from each school share the same overall objectives, but maintain distinct, specialized foci tailored to their resources and interests, fostering shared ownership and expertise.This intentional, cross-institutional approach moves beyond simple recruitment to demonstrate an adaptable and effective pathway for significantly increasing the number of undergraduate students actively engaged in formal research, leading directly to a rise in co-authored peer-reviewed publications and competitive conference presentations, thereby cultivating the next generation of diverse research leaders.