Alan Llavore | Office of Marketing and Communications | (909) 537-5007 | allavore@csusb.edu
U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA-33) formally announced the awarding of a little more than $1 million in a federal grant to establish a center at Cal State San Bernardino aimed at developing and expanding the Inland Empire’s artificial intelligence, virtual reality and cybersecurity capabilities by strengthening the region’s workforce in cybersecurity, supply chain and logistics.
Students, faculty and staff gathered with the congressman on Feb. 5 in CSUSB’s Center for Cyber and AI for the ceremonial check presentation symbolizing the $1,031,000 grant for the Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality Research and Retraining Center.
“This will strengthen AI technology in our workforce and provide all of you students with opportunities for retraining and training and growth in the VR and AI technology space,” Aguilar said. “By strengthening these capabilities and offering these new skills, we're improving the region's supply chain, our workforce, and ensuring that we have pathways for success.”
Aguilar, working with U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, in January obtained the funding through passage of the Commerce, Justice, Science, Energy and Water Development, and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act of 2026, which included $7.4 million in federal community project funding grants for seven projects, including the new CSUSB center, in California’s 33rd Congressional District.
“Since Rep. Aguilar's election in Congress in 2012, he's been a true champion for Cal State San Bernardino and its growing workforce development programs, including cybersecurity,” said Tomás D. Morales, CSUSB president. “His support of our AI and Virtual Reality Research and Retraining Center is just the latest example. This initiative is designed to begin the evolution of the Inland Empire workforce’s ability to harness artificial intelligence, or AI, and virtual reality, or VR, for cybersecurity and supply chain occupations. The eventual goal is to propel San Bernardino and its surrounding areas into a future marked by security, innovation and competitiveness instead of redundancy.”
The funding will help with acquiring cutting edge graphics processing units (GPU) hardware for AI development and VR headsets for immersive learning experiences; developing a comprehensive platform focused on how to use AI to assist in work role tasks and enhance productivity and competitiveness; and outreach events to connect with K-12 and community college students to introduce them to the real-world uses of AI and VR, as well as working with local businesses to provide training and resources to keep the region’s workforce up to date.
Vincent Nestler, director of the CSUSB Center for Cyber and AI, remarked on the timing of the grant as AI and its related technologies continue to rapidly evolve.
“AI is changing everything, everywhere, all at once. Some people are going to make out like bandits, and some people are going to find themselves lost and confused,” he said. “The purpose, really, of this grant, in part, is to try and figure out, what is that transition? What's on the horizon that's coming our way? How do we prepare the inland Empire for that transition? If warehousing jobs go, where do those people go to work now? How do we transition them to make them successful?
“Our effort is going to be to maximize this money with other things that we are ready to do, and to try and make sure that we're that shining city on the hill that helps folks have a place to go to say, ‘Okay, what do I do now?’” Nestler said. “I am grateful that we have a wonderful champion in the federal government like Rep. Aguilar who helps us continue to be successful and to launch people into the future.”
To underscore the importance of federal support, Tony Coulson, executive director of the CSUSB Center for Cyber and AI, recounted how Aguilar has backed the center’s efforts over the past decade, working to find funding in the various nooks and crannies in the federal budget, as well as fighting to preserve needed program money.
CSUSB hosts the top-applied cybersecurity program in the nation, Morales said, one that includes serving as a coordinating Center of Academic Excellence Cyber Defense, which leads a network of colleges and universities across the country. Collectively, they are creating pathways to explore careers in cybersecurity for students, kindergarten through college, training them to enter a growing national workforce. Not long ago, Coulson said, the network consisted of about 90 institutions struggling to prepare students to fill jobs in an industry that badly needed skilled cybersecurity professionals.
“Thanks to the efforts of Congressman Aguilar, not only is the program thriving today, but there are now 500 colleges and universities having produced hundreds of thousands of students into our critically needed cybersecurity workforce,” Coulson said. “This funding accelerates CSUSB’s leadership in AI and virtual reality research while expanding workforce development opportunities that directly benefit the Inland Empire’s growing technology and logistics sectors.”
And the work won’t stop with this grant. “This is just the beginning,” Aguilar said. “We'll continue to work with you. We'll continue to work with your leadership team to ensure that we're doing everything we can to put this center, this space, this campus and our community at the forefront, and ensure that we're drawing on the resources that are necessary in order to put the Inland Empire on a good path forward.”
