BATON ROUGE — LSU artificial intelligence researchers will collaborate with other universities to develop AI models to protect the United States from nuclear threats as part of a $25 million national defense and energy project, the university announced Tuesday.

The consortium of 15 universities and eight national labs is being funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration to support nuclear safety and nonproliferation, as well as train a new generation of data science, cyber and AI experts. 

The initiative will be led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Clemson University and the Air Force Institute of Technology are among the universities participating.

The broader research thrusts of the group, the Enabling Capabilities in Technology Consortium, include fundamental science in earth, environmental, atmospheric and space science, as well as radio and nuclear chemistry and applied science and engineering in areas of nuclear chemical engineering, advanced nuclear fuel systems engineering and reactor systems engineering, LSU said. 

"With the strong cyber focus we have here at LSU, we will be able to look at signals people haven't been looking at that hard, like radiofrequency emissions and other digital signatures that can help fingerprint and track threats that could be transporting lost or smuggled nuclear or radiological material," James Ghawaly, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at LSU, said. "This is in addition to the sensors most often used, such as radiation detectors, cameras and LiDAR."

LSU's participation is half of a larger, two-consortia effort by the U.S. Department of Energy to continue this research, with another similarly sized group also receiving $25 million in funding.