The University of Minnesota announced that it will receive a $20 million grant over five years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to lead a new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.
Researchers at the AI Institute for Climate-Land Interactions, Mitigation, Adaptation, Tradeoffs and Economy (AI-CLIMATE) aim to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to create more climate-smart practices that will absorb and store carbon while simultaneously boosting the economy in the agriculture and forestry industries.
The new institute is one of seven new NSF and NIFA-funded AI Institutes announced today and is part of a larger federal initiative — totaling nearly half a billion dollars — to bolster collaborative artificial intelligence research across the country.
AI-CLIMATE is a joint effort between the U of M College of Science and Engineering, Minnesota Robotics Institute, Data Science Institute, College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences and the Office of the Vice President for Research. It will bring together scientists and engineers from across the country, including national experts on artificial intelligence and climate-smart ag and forestry from Cornell University, Colorado State University, Delaware State University, Purdue University and North Carolina State University. The researchers will also collaborate with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and the tribal nations it represents. Continue reading the full article on CFANS.