6.21.22 - Governor Hochul Announces UAlbany Engineering Building to Anchor New $200 Million Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Initiative
' Governor Kathy Hochul announced today that the new University at Albany engineering building will anchor a $200 million public-private artificial intelligence supercomputing initiative led by UAlbany's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
"My administration is steadfast in its commitment to transform SUNY into a globally renowned, 21st century education leader," Governor Hochul said. "This funding will help drive economic revenue by attracting companies to New York's emerging advanced research centers, creating jobs and strengthening communities for decades to come."
The project received $75 million in state funding from the 2022-2023 budget to complete the transformation of the former Albany High School into a state-of-the-art engineering college and fund, in part, the construction of a supercomputer. The Albany Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Initiative (Albany AI) is expected to significantly expand New York's capacity in this emerging field.
With the goal of becoming the first university-based computer to reach a quintillion computations per second, Albany AI will empower university and industry researchers to harness massive data sets to better understand how to automate complex operations like diagnosing and treating disease and forecasting natural disasters. The research will focus on cybersecurity, weather prediction, health data analytics, drug discovery, next-generation microchip design and other applications essential to our health, security, resiliency, and economic competitiveness. It will also involve important teaching and research collaborations with faculty in the humanities, social sciences, public policy, public health and social welfare as AI increasingly touches all facets of daily life.
The completion of the engineering building, which will house Albany AI-related programs, is scheduled for initial occupancy in late 2023 and full occupancy in 2025. The renovation will provide modern labs and classrooms while preserving the core architectural elements of the 110-year-old building. The revitalization of the vacant 129,000 square foot building at Western and North Lake avenues is a major investment in midtown Albany.
SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley said, "SUNY campuses are ever-evolving to meet the training requirements and rigorous research needs of the developing science, technology, and engineering sectors. By investing in the new Albany Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Initiative, we are showing our students that cutting-edge research is right here in our top-tier, affordable, and accessible institutions. We thank Governor Hochul and NYS Legislators Neil Breslin, Patricia Fahy, Michelle Hinchey, and John MacDonald for this significant investment in New York's workforce, and we look forward to our students using these resources to develop sustainable solutions for generations to come."
UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez said, "UAlbany is uniquely positioned to leverage the promise and potential of artificial intelligence to tackle some of society's biggest challenges, from climate change to public health to education. Not only is this a major milestone in UAlbany's history - it also represents a significant step toward advancing Governor Hochul's vision to ensure SUNY is the premier public university system in the nation. We are grateful to the governor and the state Legislature, especially senators Breslin and Hinchey and assemblymembers Fahy and McDonald, for their unwavering support."
Located in UAlbany's Uptown Data Center, the Albany AI supercomputer will make computing clusters and exploratory hardware with the latest chip designs available to government, industry, and university scientists across New York. This work will build on UAlbany's existing research strengths, including collaborations like the recently announced partnership with IBM Research using AI to study water quality, weather prediction and renewable energy forecasting; the new Virtual Institute for Cyber Operations Research established in partnership with Florida International University and the Griffiss Institute; and a $20 million AI institute funded by the National Science Foundation in which UAlbany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center is a key partner. '