Virginia Tech awarded $20 million grant for cyber workforce development

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced on Thursday that Virginia Tech will receive $19,420,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help increase cyber workforce development and encourage scientific partnerships to deliver innovation in the field.

“Investment in a capable and diverse cyber workforce is critical to how we respond to the opportunities and challenges provided by emerging technologies,” Warner said. “This award will help Virginia Tech — one of the top research institutions in the country — to attract the best and brightest young minds into careers in computational molecular science and cyber technology, and allow Virginia to continue to establish a leadership role in the cyber field.”

NSF’s grant will launch an interdisciplinary team of software scientists who will help develop software frameworks, interact with community code developers, collaborate with partners in cyber-infrastructure, serve future experts in cyber technology, and form mutually productive coalitions with industry, government labs and international efforts.

The grant will be provided in increments through 2021. A total of $5,880,491 of the grant will be awarded immediately.

Virginia Tech intends to use the funding to create a Molecular Sciences Software Institute, which will become a focus of scientific research, education and collaboration for the worldwide community of computational molecular scientists seeking to incorporate its findings into useable software for a wider group of users.