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Lines of Business

Applied AI Research

Research Priorities

  • Aerial view of the UTEP campus, with red-roofed buildings in the foreground and the Franklin Mountains behind.

    AI for Science

    Machine learning for discovery in the physical sciences

    Research focus

    • Physics-informed materials models
    • Defect detection in nuclear materials
    • Geospatial AI for water resources
    • Uncertainty quantification

    Why it matters

    National priority
    The White House's 2026 R&D priorities name AI for science a national mission.1
    Federal funding
    NSF is investing up to $100 million to drive AI-enabled scientific discovery.2
  • A researcher smiles while working at an open rack in a server room.

    AI and Cybersecurity

    Cyber defense and post-quantum security

    Research focus

    • Autonomous cyber-defense agents
    • Adversarial and privacy-preserving machine learning (ML)
    • Post-quantum cryptography and hardware security

    Why it matters

    AI in defense
    Organizations using AI security tools contain breaches faster and save about $1.9 million per breach.3
    National R&D
    NSF and DARPA launched AI Forge in 2026 to fund university research on secure, reliable AI.4
  • A person works at a laptop in front of a large screen showing a world map made of dots.

    AI and Quantum

    Quantum materials, simulation, and quantum-safe systems

    Research focus

    • ML for quantum simulation and materials
    • Molecular magnets for quantum computing, with UTEP physics and chemistry
    • Post-quantum cryptography testbeds

    Why it matters

    National strategy
    Two executive orders in June 2026 set a national quantum strategy.5
    Federal deadline
    Federal systems must move to quantum-safe encryption by 2030 to 2031.5 The first standards were published in 2024.6
  • The UTEP campus and El Paso at sunset, seen from a hillside, with mountains on the horizon.

    AI and Supply Chains

    Cargo provenance, crossing times, and disruption risk

    Research focus

    • Cargo provenance and chain of custody
    • Estimating cross-border crossing times
    • Modeling impacts of supply chain disruptions
    • Risk scoring for customs and port authorities

    Why it matters

    El Paso’s role
    About $139 billion in U.S.-Mexico trade crossed through the El Paso region in 2025, the second-largest gateway on the border.7
    Federal priority
    Securing supply chains is a federal priority for AI, trade, and national security.8
Meet the Affiliated Faculty

Sources

  1. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Management and Budget, “Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation: Fiscal Year 2028 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities,” memorandum, July 21, 2026.↩
  2. U.S. National Science Foundation, “New NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs Will Power AI-Enabled Scientific Research Across the Country,” Aug. 4, 2026.↩
  3. IBM, Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025.↩
  4. U.S. National Science Foundation, “NSF and DARPA Release New Report and RFI to Align Government, Academia and Industry Around Forward-Looking AI Research” (AI Forge announcement), June 4, 2026.↩
  5. Executive Order 14412, “Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks,” and Executive Order 14413, “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation,” June 22, 2026, Federal Register.↩
  6. National Institute of Standards and Technology, “NIST Releases First 3 Finalized Post-Quantum Encryption Standards,” Aug. 13, 2024.↩
  7. U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TransBorder Freight Data, 2025.↩
  8. U.S. Department of State, Pax Silica initiative on AI and supply chain security.↩