PARTNER: Neuro-Inspired AI for the Edge at UTSA (NAIAD)

This project is an ExpandAI Partnership between the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) and the AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next-generation Networks (ATHENA). In this project, a minority-serving institution leads a new collaboration with an AI Institute focused on scaling up already-established research and education programs at UTSA and to pursue shared, complementary goals around developing AI with use for society in mind and for developing the next generation of AI education and workforce talent. The collaborative research focuses on the AI research that is inspired by how the brain works, and to use that to create robust computational models and design AI systems for embedded use in everyday devices. The project will also build community and new centers of excellence in AI where such activities were not previously well developed. Despite the remarkable recent progress in AI systems, they are typically power-hungry. This project investigates the incorporation of neuro-inspired mechanisms in AI system and their potential to improve the energy efficiency and robustness of AI solutions for the edge. This collaboration is a multidisciplinary partnership between researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s MATRIX AI Consortium and the NSF AI Institute ATHENA. This new partnership will conduct collaborative research that advances core AI capabilities for the edge by creating novel AI models that draw inspiration from neural mechanisms and will design neuromorphic computing systems that offer functionality, robustness, and energy efficiency specifically targeting deployment in edge computing. The project also features immersive research programming designed to strengthen AI competencies in UTSA and ATHENA and further disseminated to the broader professional community to support contribute to an inclusive future AI workforce. The project is partially funded by NSF’s Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program within the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM.” This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.