Here is how we lead the AI revolution
UB chosen to lead N.Y.’s new $400 million consortium, Empire AI
With deep and decades-long leadership in artificial intelligence and data science, the University at Buffalo was named the home for Empire AI, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed $400 million consortium that aims to put New York State at the forefront of the AI revolution.
The university will serve as the statewide location for a state-of-the-art AI computing center that will facilitate innovation, responsible research and economic development in AI. The consortium will bring together SUNY, CUNY and private colleges and universities, as well as private foundations.
“The center will be a global leader and usher in unlimited possibilities of the future of this area that it never could have foreseen,” Hochul said, noting that the initiative will empower UB students like Holliday Sims, a UB computer science major who intends to use AI for social good.
A legacy of innovation
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has been a worldwide leader in AI research and education for nearly 50 years. This includes pioneering work creating the world’s first autonomous handwriting recognition system, which the United States Postal Service and the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail adopted to save billions of dollars.
Today, school faculty are committed to using AI to address societal challenges through numerous projects and initiatives, including:
- A five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education, which is developing AI systems to diagnose and treat young children with speech and language processing challenges.
- Nearly $6 million in grants from the NSF awarded to UB’s Center for Information Integrity to help older adults and children spot online scams and disinformation.
- Groundbreaking research in areas that range from autonomy and robotics to biotechnology and genomics in UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.
- Additional projects that aim to use AI to treat brain aneurysms; help first responders locate victims during natural disasters; modernize manufacturing systems; develop new materials for space applications, from satellite sensors to cosmic radiation shields; and more.
UB is also No. 1 in the state among universities in securing cyberinfrastructure program funding from the NSF.
“The University at Buffalo has more than 200 researchers pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and data science in cybersecurity, drug discovery and medicine, robotics, education, environmental science, transportation and other fields that are critical to the state and nation’s future,” said Venu Govindaraju, UB vice president for research and economic development and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering.
“Empire AI will marshal these resources with those of our partnerships to create a technological powerhouse in New York State,” he says.
