HONOLULU (KHON2) — The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo will receive more than $1.4 million to take part in a $152 million national project aimed at building powerful artificial intelligence tools for science.
The effort is led by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NVIDIA.
Ai2 will use $75 million from NSF and $77 million from NVIDIA to create the first fully open set of advanced AI models designed to speed up U.S. scientific progress. UH Hilo will play a key role as its faculty and students will help to adapt the models for research and to involve communities in their use.
“We have some amazing faculty members that work here that are doing great scientific work,” said Travis Mandel, PhD, an associate professor of computer science and coordinator of the Data Science program at UH Hilo. “To see those individuals be able to start integrating these state of the art AI systems into what they’re doing is really going to kind of propel the institution forward, to have it be part of this, this grant.”
Dr. Mandel will co-lead parts of the project focused on how scientists can use the AI tools.
“This award presents an incredible opportunity to bring world-class AI expertise to UH Hilo and help our students better understand the technical details of how these large AI systems work,” said Dr. Mandel.
He went on to explain further.
“Our Data Science students will gain invaluable hands-on experience with these systems, whether it be studying how well the AI meets the needs of local scientists, or implementing improved training methods to provide better and more reliable assistance with challenging scientific tasks.,” he added.
The excitement around this highly innovative and coveted placement for UH in this research is palpable as everyone from university leadership to students celebrate.
“We are honored to work alongside Ai2 and the other partners on this groundbreaking initiative. This award reflects our university’s growing strength in data science education and our commitment to advancing Hawaiʻi’s role in the nation’s technological future,” said UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin.
The project will give UH Hilo students a chance to work on summer internships and year-round research projects.
“That means that the students here; the faculty here. They’re all going to be contributing to this really exciting project,” said Dr. Mandel. “It’s going to definitely enhance our programs and data science especially, but also computer science to help us offer more of this cutting edge work in AI to our students.”
They will help build and test AI models that could change how scientists study materials, the environment and climate. Students will also learn from leading AI researchers and support local scientists in applying AI to marine and environmental studies.
“One of the goals here, is to make AI the field of AI sort of more open, more transparent to really help people be able to sort of see inside, because that’s one thing that society in general is struggling with right now,” added Dr. Mandel. “Right? “Everybody is starting to use AI to help them in various ways with assignments, with projects, with work.”
You can click here to learn more about UH Hilo’s innovation in AI.
UH Hilo offers the first Bachelor of Science in Data Science in the UH System and a data science certificate. In the program, students learn to collect, process and study data using tools like AI, machine learning and programming.