Langston University

by Ellie Melero

Dazjuan Johnson can’t wait for the 1890 Cyber + AI Games.

Planned as part of the Second Morrill Act 135th Anniversary celebrations, the 1890 Cyber + AI Games are a national cyber capture-the-flag competition that will be held at the University of the District of Columbia on Sept. 9. They may not be a flashy spectacle like College Football Gamedays, but they will be fiercely competitive and exciting for anyone with an interest in cybersecurity or artificial intelligence. And Johnson can’t wait to play.

“I’m looking forward to testing our skills on a national stage, learning from other teams and representing Dear Langston with pride,” Johnson said.

A senior computer science major at Langston University, Johnson is one of six LU students who will make the trip to Washington, D.C., for the competition. These skilled student coders are all part of Code Blooded, LU’s cyber competition team.

Code Blooded regularly competes in events like code-a-thons and cybersecurity competitions, and they’ve even beaten teams from Ivy League schools like Yale in the past. This will be Code Blooded’s first challenge with its new team lineup for the 2025-26 school year, and it will be Johnson’s first competition with the team.

“It’s been an exciting and fast-paced experience, pushing me to sharpen my skills and collaborate closely with talented peers,” Johnson said. “I’m grateful for this opportunity and confident it will be a valuable step toward my future in tech and cybersecurity.”

Twenty teams from each of the 1890 Land-Grant Institutions plus the host school will participate in the 1890 Cyber + AI Games. They will be held in a capture-the-flag jeopardy style format, testing students’ skills in areas such as digital forensics, reconnaissance and geo-tagging.

The theme for the Games will be Agriterrorism. The teams will be given a hypothetical scenario in which there has been a disruption to the U.S.’s food supply chain through the introduction of biological, chemical, physical or cyber-physical threats via malware, ransomware, sensor/actuator tampering, network intrusions, phishing or social engineering. The students will have to work together to resolve the scenario.

Ralph Grayson, the chair of LU’s Department of Computer Science and Code Blooded’s coach, said the six members of the competition team were chosen because they each have an expertise in a different area that will be featured in the competition. Having students with a variety of skill sets makes the team more well-rounded and competitive.

“Competitions are always great because we want them to get used to what happens in the workforce,” Grayson said. “In the workforce, you have to work on teams, and there are always issues that come up. They have to work well together, and they have to develop and execute skills that they may not have had before.”

Selam Terefe, a junior computer science major, has been on Code Blooded since his freshman year, but he’s never competed in an event quite like this. That’s because this will be the first 1890 Cyber + AI Games.

Put on by Katzcy PlayCyber and the 1890 Universities Foundation, the 1890 Cyber + AI Games were created as part of the Second Morrill Act anniversary celebrations. They are intended to highlight the growing need for cybersecurity in agriculture, leading to the theme of Agriterrorism.

As Code Blooded prepares for the Games, Johnson and Terefe have reflected on the theme and what opportunities there are for computer science students in agriculture. They’re thankful for the opportunity to participate, and now, they’re ready to compete.

“I believe it is a great opportunity for HBCU students interested in the intersection of agriculture, artificial intelligence and cyber defense to get hands-on exposure and connect with peers with the same interest,” Terefe said. “I would like to thank Langston University’s Sherman Lewis School of Agriculture & Applied Sciences and the Computer Science department for giving us this opportunity.”