Naval research contract to prepare Benedict College graduates for defense industry careers
An $8M naval research contract will fund a new degree program at Benedict College, helping graduates start careers in national defense. (Benedict College/Provided)
COLUMBIA — A $7.9 million U.S. Department of Defense contract will fund research and a new computer science and engineering master’s degree program at Benedict College, helping graduates start careers in national defense.
The Office of Naval Research on Tuesday awarded the three-year contract to the historically Black college and a Columbia-based defense software firm, Integer Technologies.
Thomas Fu, head of the office’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department, said the contract will both increase cybersecurity and help diversify the defense community’s workforce.
“Investing in research and workforce development at HBCUs is a priority for us to advance our national security objectives with a broad pipeline of highly trained, highly skilled men and women,” Wu said in a statement.
The focus of the research will be on cybersecurity measures for unmanned vehicles, according to Gurcan Comert, a professor in the college’s physics and engineering department.
Integer Technologies CEO Duke Hartman said a partnership with Benedict was a natural fit, as professors at the school already have been conducting research focused on protecting land-based, self-driving vehicles against cyberattacks.
“Autonomous vehicles are no longer science fiction,” Hartman said in a statement. “They are on the road, in the air, and in the sea, impacting our lives today. While they have the potential to benefit society greatly, hackers are increasingly targeting them, and we need to invest in ensuring they are safe and secure against cyberattacks.”
Half of the funding from the contract will go to Benedict College to start its master’s degree program, which the school believes is the first graduate engineering degree of its kind at a historically Black college in South Carolina.
Comert said Benedict will use the funding to upgrade lab space and purchase equipment, hire faculty and provide scholarships for both graduate-level researchers and undergraduates.
The school expects to enroll its first round of students in the program in fall 2025, starting with about 10 full-time and part-time students.
“Benedict College has been strategically investing in STEM and our research capacity for years, and this award is a result of that effort. As we will demonstrate in this work, HBCUs have an important contribution to make to America’s national security and workforce,” Benedict College President Roslyn Clark Artis said in a statement.
Benedict’s associate vice president for research, Godwin Mbamalu, said students in the program get to take part in cyberattack simulations and work with the artificial intelligence systems developed by Integer that make it possible for unmanned naval vessels to navigate on the water without the need for a crew to be physically at the helm.
“Providing South Carolinians with opportunities to thrive and succeed, especially those in rural and underserved communities, has always been my priority,” U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose 6th District includes Benedict College, said in a statement.
“This project will equip our aspiring STEM workers with valuable experience and put them at the forefront of technological research and innovation,” said South Carolina’s only Democrat in Congress.
