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Tennessee Tech faculty earn $3 million grant to train future leaders on convergence of energy, AI and cybersecurity

Drs. Bhattacharya, Gupta, Talbert, Yelamarthi and Park
From left: Maanak Gupta, Eunsung Park, Indranil Bhattacharya, Doug Talbert and Kumar Yelamarthi are pictured in the university's new Ashraf Islam Engineering Building. Together, the faculty members will manage the university's new $3 million National Science Foundation grant. 


Tennessee Tech University is building on its reputation as the state’s premier energy, cybersecurity and AI powerhouse thanks to a new $3 million research grant from the National Science Foundation.

The prestigious five-year grant will be led by Tech’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with support from Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering and will equip Tech to train 24 master’s and doctoral students in research on the convergence of energy, AI and cybersecurity disciplines.

The funding will provide the students with covered tuition and a generous annual stipend to perform cutting-edge research with implications for stopping cyber-attacks, improving malware detection, securing the nation’s energy supply and better understanding its energy infrastructure.

“When you join these concepts – energy, cybersecurity and AI – and create a research venture where students and faculty can come together and perform interdisciplinary research – that’s a powerful thing that is great for our state and nation and is something that is truly unique to us here at Tech,” explained Indranil Bhattacharya, professor and interim chair of Tech’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and principal investigator for the grant project.

“It’s one of the most competitive grants that NSF provides. Top tier research institutions are competing for this, so we’re very pleased that Tech was chosen,” he added.

Bhattacharya emphasizes that, while it is not uncommon to find experts in one area of cybersecurity, energy or AI, there is a clear workforce need for those who can unite these skills to bring a holistic perspective to real-world challenges impacting our critical infrastructure. This grant, he says, will allow Tech to cultivate students prepared to do exactly that.

Tech faculty joining Bhattacharya as co-investigators on the grant include Maanak Gupta, associate professor of computer science, Doug Talbert, professor of computer science, Kumar Yelamarthi, associate dean of academic affairs and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Eunsung Park, assistant professor of educational technology.

Bhattacharya says Tech student researchers supported by the grant will benefit from the cross-disciplinary collaboration.

“Bringing researchers from different departments to work together in this kind of convergence project is something very unique and special,” said Bhattacharya. “Collaboration is something that has been very helpful because it helps us to be more successful. It helps us to train our students better and it helps elevate the university.”

 Indranil Bhattacharya, professor and interim chair of Tech’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and principal investigator for the grant project
Indranil Bhattacharya, professor and interim chair of Tech’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and principal investigator for the grant project

The grant comes as Tech has continued to make significant research gains, topping $46 million in externally funded research for fiscal year 2024 – the highest total ever recorded in the university’s 109-year history.

“We are enormously proud of Drs. Bhattacharya, Gupta, Talbert, Yelamarthi and Park for bringing home this highly competitive grant right here to Tennessee Tech,” said John Liu, vice president for research at Tech. “As we look to build on Tech’s record-setting research haul from the last fiscal year, this is another building block toward that goal. Most importantly, it will benefit our students by providing opportunities for experiential learning and hands-on training in these sought-after disciplines.”