Florida State University's Colleges of Nursing and Medicine have received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to train the next generation of nurse scientists in digital health and artificial intelligence, according to a Florida State University News report published July 22, 2026.
The grant is intended to build a pipeline of nurses equipped to work with emerging technologies in health care settings. Digital health tools and AI systems are becoming increasingly common in clinical environments, and nursing programs across the country are working to keep pace with that shift. The FSU program is designed to address that gap directly by embedding AI and digital health training into scientific research preparation for nurses.
FSU's Colleges of Nursing and Medicine will collaborate on the program. The university described the initiative as focused on preparing nurse scientists, a category of advanced nursing professionals who contribute to research as well as patient care. Training nurse scientists in AI and digital tools positions them to lead studies and contribute to research teams working on technology-driven health solutions.
The NIH grant reflects a broader federal interest in expanding the health care workforce's capacity to use and evaluate digital tools. Nurse scientists who understand AI can help assess whether those tools work accurately across different patient populations, catch potential errors or biases in algorithms, and develop research questions that clinical data scientists might not think to ask.
FSU has not yet announced a start date for the program or details on how many students will be enrolled in the initial cohort. The grant funding will support program development, faculty training, and student stipends as the university builds out the curriculum. Further details are expected as the program moves from planning into implementation.
