NSF’s 11 new AI institutes total $220M and expand reach to 40 states

The National Science Foundation has announced the establishment of 11 new NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, reaching a combined investment of $220 million and including a total of 40 states when adding the original seven institutes announced last year. The institutes are expected to act as connections in a broader nationwide network and will be led by NSF in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Google, Amazon, Intel and Accenture. All but one of the 11 new institutes will be led by universities. The exception is the NSF AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (ALOE), which will be led by SSTI member, the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA).

The new ALOE Institute will be headquartered at Georgia Tech. Led by GRA, the effort is expected to unite experts in computer science, AI, cognitive science, learning science and education from a consortium of several universities (Arizona State, Drexel, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Harvard, UNC-Greensboro); technical colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG); major industrial partners (Boeing, IBM and Wiley); and non-profit organizations (GRA and IMS, a non-profit collaborative advancing edtech originally known as the Instructional Management Systems). GRA will coordinate the entities and administer the grant over five years. It has worked for 30 years to help grow Georgia’s economy by driving more investment in the state, developing a high-tech workforce and strengthening the state’s reputation for innovation.

“Having an enterprise like GRA proved to be beneficial in landing this important Georgia-led grant,” said GRA President Susan Shows in an announcement about the new institute.

The new awards, each about $20 million over five years, will support the 11 institutes across seven research areas:

• Human-AI Interaction and Collaboration;
• AI for Advances in Optimization;
• AI and Advanced Cyberinfrastructure;
• AI in Computer and Network Systems;
• AI in Dynamic Systems;
• AI-Augmented Learning; and,
• AI-Driven Innovation in Agriculture and the Food System.

In describing the need to advance AI beyond investing research dollars, NSF said it is building “robust, sustainable AI research and innovation ecosystems that will foster fundamental advancements while accelerating the translation of research results to market and practice; catalyze partnerships between federal, university and industry partners; and expand the geography of innovation by fostering regional and national networks of education and workforce training.”

More information on each of the new institutes may be found here.