Gov. Moore and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) recently announced a $2.38 million federal grant to launch the Maryland Rural Pathways to Prosperity Network (MD Pathways). The four-year initiative connects nine rural community colleges and universities across the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland, Southern Maryland, and Northern Maryland. According to the press release from the governor’s office, “By partnering directly with local businesses and state agency leaders, MD Pathways ensures students graduate with industry-recognized credentials, paid workplace experience, and clear degree pathways in fast-growing local careers in healthcare, cybersecurity, aerospace, high-tech agriculture, and education.”
Gov. Mikie Sherrill recently announced the launch of the New Jersey Supercomputer Initiative (NJSCI), a more than $125 million public-private partnership aimed at driving research, innovation, education, and workforce development. With support from leaders across New Jersey’s higher education institutions, state agencies, and the NJ AI Hub, as well as commitments from technology industry leaders, NJSCI will meet the advanced computing needs of researchers, students, entrepreneurs, businesses, and other organizations statewide. The initiative is expected to double the current supercomputing capacity available in aggregate across all of New Jersey’s research universities and dramatically increase available capacity for the most advanced supercomputing hardware.
New York City joins Chicago in the quantum race as Mayor Mamdani and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced the city will award $29.2 million to New York University (NYU) to establish a cutting-edge Quantum Fabrication Facility (QFab). QFab - which is backed by an additional $255 million investment from NYU spanning construction and 10 years of operations - will give researchers, students, start-ups and established companies access to specialized equipment for building and testing new quantum devices.