University of South Florida gets $1.5M for AI program

Tampa cybersecurity firm ReliaQuest has donated $1.5 million to the University of South Florida’s artificial intelligence college, its second such gift to a state school this year.

The money for the program will go toward funding an endowed professorship and creates a study track focused on AI-supported software engineering.

The donation, made through the university’s foundation, is for the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing.

USF, in a statement, says $1 million of the money will go toward endowing a named professorship “enabling the college to attract and retain world-class faculty who will continue to elevate teaching, advance research and drive the future of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity education.”

The remaining $500,000 will go to the ReliaQuest Labs program established in 2018 to provide students with hands-on experience along with in-class curriculum. It will be used to add a second track in software engineering and emerging areas such as prompt engineering.

The money to USF follows a $1.5 million ReliaQuest donation in April to Florida State University for a partnership aimed at researching and developing real world applications for AI technology in cybersecurity.

ReliaQuest was founded in 2007 and has grown to 1,300 customers and 1,200 employees across six global operating centers. The private company announced last year that its valuation was $3.4 billion after a round of fundraising.

In March it was ranked No. 8 in the cybersecurity category of Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026.