Twenty-one new business-university research projects are underway across Upstate New York, backed by $3 million in innovation vouchers from the (C3).

That is a big step up from February’s first round of funding, which delivered $350,000 to five companies. C3 has since built a pipeline of 60 engagements with regional tech firms, says , vice president for research and principal investigator for C3.

C3 is the “front door” for companies across the Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo corridor that need university expertise and equipment to develop and commercialize semiconductor technologies. Syracuse University leads C3 and administers its voucher program on behalf of partners including the University at Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University, University of Rochester and Alfred University. C3 is part of the $40 million NY SMART I-Corridor award from the .

Companies in Syracuse Labs

Syracuse faculty are research partners on seven of the 26 C3 projects funded so far.

“These partnerships put real industry problems inside Syracuse labs, and that opens doors for our students. They can work on technology companies are taking to market and graduate with the experience and the connections that employers across this region are hiring for. That is what research should mean for a Syracuse education,” Brown says.

Faculty Partnerships

Five new projects pair companies with (ECS) faculty:

• works with Distinguished Professor and Professor , both of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The company combines AI, bioacoustics and behavioral science to decode how wildlife communicates.
• partners with , assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, to test BQPhy QuantumNOW, software that uses AI to speed up and improve chip manufacturing.

• and , assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, are testing whether a ceramic component from Shi’s lab can help Conamix’s lithium-sulfur batteries last longer.

• provides plant-based raw materials to , assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, whose lab is turning them into filters that clean wastewater from chip production.
• Syracuse-based ., which designs and prototypes a low-power, energy-saving, higher-speed chip that keeps memory and processing functions together, is working with four ECS faculty: Distinguished Professors and , and Professors and

Two first-round partnerships with ECS faculty continue:

• , a soft-shell robotic gripper startup co-founded by , associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; the company tests prototypes of tunable soft robotic grippers for advanced electronics manufacturing.
• , a global manufacturer of mission systems, radio frequency components and microwave/microelectronic assemblies, partners with , William T. Frantz Endowed Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. TTM is a manufacturer of technology products, including mission systems, radio frequency components, RF microwave/microelectronic assemblies and technologically advanced interconnect products.

The Micron Effect

Many of the companies seeking C3 funding are positioning for the wave of chip-industry demand they expect from Micron Technology’s $100 billion , now under construction in Clay, just north of Syracuse, Brown says. Micron says the site will be the most advanced memory manufacturing facility in the world, built to meet AI-driven demand.

“Micron’s investment is bringing new companies and new federal funding into the region. Our job is to make sure Syracuse researchers and students are part of that work, whether we are administering the program or partnering on the research,” he says.

The NY SMART I-Corridor is a federally designated Tech Hub of more than 100 businesses and higher education, economic development and community-based organizations positioning Upstate New York as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, innovation and workforce development.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration was established by  the and provides funding for regional technology development with matching support from the .

As a fourth-year student in the (ECS), Ruben John thought learning state-of-the-art robotics and controls with faculty experts was too good an opportunity to pass up. So he applied to and was accepted into a new summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program that let him do just that. This fall, he built on that experience by becoming a research assistant in his faculty mentor’s robotics lab.

John was one of eight undergraduates who participated in the new Robotics and AI for Advanced Manufacturing REU program over the summer. The eight-week, hands-on research experience was developed by , associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at ECS and co-founder of the robotics startup .

“I wanted to join Dr. Shan’s lab because I wanted to continue working with and learning from him,” John says. “I really admire his work ethic, the person he is and the way he mentors students. He would talk with us not only about our research, but also about life, business and how to think about our future. It felt like more than just a research experience.”

Students in the program were divided into eight teams composed of an undergraduate student, a Ph.D. scholar and a faculty mentor, each tackling different areas of cutting-edge robotics research. Shan designed the program so undergraduates could learn from and be mentored by Ph.D. students. Faculty members met with the undergraduates and Ph.D. students every week.

Team projects mirrored the University’s portfolio in AI, robotics and advanced manufacturing, Shan says. That includes the Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Dynamic Locomotion and Robotics Lab, A-STAR Lab, LINKLab and Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, plus the University’s lead role in the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub and affiliation with Micron’s regional tech-jobs creation engines.

The teams designed algorithms for vision-guided robot arm control, developed robotic maneuvers for aerospace vehicles, translated spoken instructions into machine-interpretable programs for industrial robots and created soft grippers and stretchable sensors that enable robots handle delicate objects.

Though each team worked on separate projects, they came together once a week to share research insights, discuss project progress and attend workshops featuring experts in entrepreneurship. Along with conducting research, students participated in cohort-building and social activities, including touring the Museum of Science and Technology and a robotics firm.

The entrepreneurial focus was designed to give students a look at startup life as an alternative to the more traditional career routes in academia and industry, Shan says. For John, that orientation prompted him to pursue his next step in both research and entrepreneurship. In Shan’s lab, he continues to study gripper design and performance while also observing new steps in in product development underway at TunaBotics.

“My goal has always been to become the best possible version of myself, whether through engineering, entrepreneurship or a combination of both,” John says. “Meeting Dr. Shan and being in the program helped guide me toward that goal. It gave me a different outlook on what I want to do in the future and opened my mind to opportunities beyond the traditional engineering path.”

Syracuse University today announced the launch of the , which brings together world-class researchers from across campus whose unique expertise in AI will help advance research, teaching and practice in the rapidly expanding field.

“Artificial intelligence is one of the defining research challenges of this decade, and Syracuse is making a serious commitment to it,” says , vice president for research. “The Institute for Artificial Intelligence brings our faculty together to pursue AI research at a scale no single lab or department could take on alone, to build lasting partnerships with industry and government, and to translate that work into real-world impact.”

Led by , the KG Tan Endowed Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the (ECS), the institute brings together with expertise spanning engineering, information science, public policy and communications.

“This institute reflects Syracuse University’s commitment to advancing artificial intelligence research that is both rigorous and responsible,” says Shakarian, who serves as director and executive committee chair. “We’re building a research community that is equipped to tackle AI’s hardest technical problems alongside its societal implications. We envision a future of resilient AI systems that lead to high impact applications.”

, associate professor of public administration and international affairs in the , is associate director and executive committee vice chair.

Four Research Areas

Research at the institute is organized around four areas of focus:

• AI and Security: Research spanning AI for cybersecurity, security of AI systems, formal verification and vulnerability discovery.
• Multidomain Intelligence: Sensing and perception research, including signal and image analysis and energy-efficient AI systems.
• AI in Socio-Cognitive Dynamics: How AI systems interact with human cognition, communication and social networks.
• AI for Governance and Policy: Trustworthy AI, AI safety and the policy frameworks needed to guide AI’s global development and deployment.

Federal research agencies and industry partners will also support the institute’s research agenda through collaboration and funding agreements.

Public Events, AI Community-Building

Planned public events, including lectures, workshops and symposia, will help the institute share knowledge, foster collaboration and engage the broader AI community. Events this fall include:

• (Oct. 12-13, Washington, D.C.): Sponsored by the , this invitation-only workshop will examine AI use for decision making across the domains of electronic warfare, radar, aerial and space.
• (Nov. 5-7, Arlington, Virginia): This symposium will feature traditional paper sessions with extended discussion, a poster session, three invited keynote speakers and a closing panel focused on artificial metacognition—AI’s ability to reflect on itself.

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence is part of , which includes undergraduate and graduate degree programs in AI, a suite of AI-focused minors and the peer-led AI Bootcamp for students, reinforcing the University’s position as a growing center for AI research and education. The institute will also create research opportunities for students and supports United AI, a student community that brings together undergraduate and graduate students from across the University to learn, build and lead in AI.

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence is located on the second floor of Hinds Hall. For more information, visit .

Ask a student where they start their research these days, and increasingly the answer isn’t the library website—it’s an AI platform.

To prepare and adapt to that rapidly changing landscape, , professor and senior associate dean for faculty and academic affairs in the School of Information Studies, has won a grant from the to train 110 academic librarians nationwide in AI literacy and assessment.

The three-year project, Student Success through Assessment and AI Literacy in Libraries (SSAAILL), partners Syracuse University with the University of Virginia, Colorado State University and the University of Denver. The goal is to prepare academic librarians for a landscape where students increasingly turn first to AI-generated answers instead of library resources, often without the skills to evaluate what they’re getting.

iSchool Interim Dean says Oakleaf’s work puts the University at the forefront of helping academic librarians nationwide navigate the shift.

“Getting this IMLS award is fantastic, especially given the climate we’re in right now,” says Rubin. “The intersection of AI and libraries is the right research at the right moment for our school, and Megan is exactly the right person to lead it.”

Meeting the Moment

Oakleaf, who teaches courses in information services, information and AI literacy, academic libraries and project design in libraries in the iSchool’s MSLIS program, says the project tackles three shifts that are “converging” in library science right now.

Not only are students increasingly starting research with AI-generated answers instead of library resources, but she says institutions are also adopting AI-driven learning analytics that frequently exclude library data entirely, which makes libraries’ contributions to student success invisible in campus decision-making, Oakleaf says.

On top of that, she says library leaders often lack a clear framework for communicating the library’s value when university decision-makers are including AI-supported analyses to make decisions.

If librarians aren’t equipped to respond to all three of these challenges, libraries risk becoming marginalized at a time when their role in teaching critical evaluation skills is most needed, Oakleaf says.

The moment matches the mission of the project, Oakleaf says.

“I’ve long focused on library assessment, guiding librarians who are supporting student literacies (information literacy and now AI literacy) and demonstrating the value that libraries provide to students and faculty who are focused on teaching and learning in the context of academic institutions,” she says. “AI hasn’t changed the landscape, but it is changing the toolset and increasing the rate of decision-making on campuses, so there is a sense of urgency around helping librarians be ready to respond to changing terrain, rather than just reacting to it.”

How the Project Will Work

Oakleaf is bringing her experience researching how academic libraries demonstrate and improve student learning to the project.

SSAAILL will use a three-track, dual-cohort, train-the-trainer model. One track, led by Leo Lo, dean of libraries at the University of Virginia, will focus on AI literacy instruction. The second, led by Becky Croxton, strategic assessment librarian at Colorado State University, will zero in on the AI-enhanced assessments, which often exclude library data, deployed by educational institutions. The third, led by Michael Levine-Clark, dean of libraries at the University of Denver, will delve into AI-era library leadership and communicating library value.

Oakleaf says each track will involve two cohorts over the three-year grant period to create a “deliberate feedback loop” rather than a one-time workshop.

The participants will attend the intensive training and then return to their home institutions and each train at least five colleagues. In that way, the project aims to reach more than 550 librarians at 110 institutions across the United States with its training.

The project also includes a student advisory group of undergraduates whose input helps shape the training curricula directly, allowing current students a hand in defining what AI literacy looks like in practice.

“The key challenge we anticipate is pace,” Oakleaf says. “AI tools and student behavior around them are changing faster than most professional development models can keep up with, so we’ve built in that iterative, cohort-based refinement specifically to keep the curriculum current rather than static. A second priority is making sure the training actually transfers. It’s not enough for one librarian to learn something at a conference; the train-the-trainer structure and implementation toolkits are intended to make sure it spreads.”

Oakleaf says the framework SSAAILL is building and testing with practicing academic librarians informs the work she does in her courses at the iSchool.

“Our MSLIS students are entering a profession where AI literacy instruction, AI-augmented assessment and AI-era leadership communication are becoming core competencies,” she says.

, one of three inaugural , spent the 2025-26 academic year developing and testing approaches for thoughtfully incorporating artificial intelligence into teaching, learning and assessment at Syracuse University.

A teaching professor in the , Yung says he was drawn to the topic through a curiosity about emerging technologies, “especially when they are changing quickly and we do not yet fully understand their implications.”

His fellowship combined faculty development, classroom experimentation and scholarship focused on assessment, professional judgment and responsible AI use. We sat down with Yung to learn more about the fellowship and his approach to AI.

Every Syracuse University student now has an easy way to build in-demand skills in artificial intelligence thanks to a new AI Bootcamp series offered by the (CSE) in partnership with the student group United AI.

Launching this month, the free, peer-led program turns five Wednesday evenings into a professional credential students can list on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

The first offering, the Professional Skills track, begins the week of Sept. 14 and runs Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. in Room 516, 100 Sims Drive. No coding experience is required, and the bootcamp is open to students in every major.

“This isn’t a lecture series,” says Tommy Powell, assistant provost for academic programs, who is leading the initiative. “Students use AI tools, work in teams, debate real scenarios and leave every single night with something they made themselves—not something they watched someone else make.”

5 Nights, 5 Skills, 1 Credential

The Professional Skills Track is comprised of five, 50-minute sessions, each built around a skill widely valued by employers:

• Sept. 16 — The Art of the Prompt: Adaptive communication and critical iteration, including how to recognize and correct common AI missteps like fabricated confidence.
• Sept. 30 — AI for Research and Synthesis: Building a research workflow, verifying sources and catching AI-invented citations.
• Oct. 21 — AI for Data and Decisions: Turning a spreadsheet into a chart and a plain-language insight, with no coding required.
• Nov. 4 — AI for Professional Communication: Using AI as a drafting partner and editor while keeping your own voice for three different audiences.
• Nov. 18 — Capstone: AI Professional Showcase: A portfolio presentation and the badge ceremony.

Each cohort is led by students who were trained this summer as part of CSE’s AI Peer Leadership Academy. Students who complete all five sessions and submit the required take-home artifacts earn the Syracuse University AI Professional Skills Certificate, a digital badge issued through Accredible that links to a verified competency portfolio and displays on LinkedIn.

Additional Tracks Planned

The Professional Skills track is one of three bootcamp tracks planned for this academic year. The Academic Success track, focused on studying smarter and navigating AI integrity, will launch later this fall, while the Emerging and Advanced Topics track, covering how AI works and how to build AI-powered tools, will launch in the spring. Students who complete work across all three tracks plus a capstone reflection can earn the University’s highest co-curricular recognition for AI competency, the Syracuse University AI Fluency Credential.

Students interested in participating in the AI Bootcamp should . For more information, contact Powell at 315.443.1428 or topowell@syr.edu.

Shwetha Srikanta, a computer science Ph.D. student in the , won two top honors at Amazon’s global intern recognition event for her work developing artificial intelligence systems to detect and stop sophisticated automated attacks.

Srikanta received the Global Top EXPO Award and the Global Top People’s Choice Award for her project during an internship as an applied scientist at Amazon. Her project focused on building AI systems designed to identify and mitigate advanced automated attacks, technology that could help safeguard billions of customer interactions.

“It has been an exciting technical challenge and a meaningful opportunity to contribute to AI systems operating at an incredible scale,” says Srikanta. “This recognition reflects the support, mentorship and collaboration of many exceptional people.”

Srikanta says the recognition will motivate her continued research into AI systems aimed at solving large-scale, real-world problems.

“I’m deeply thankful to my mentors, advisor, and everyone who has supported me along the way,” says Srikanta. “This recognition inspires me to continue building AI systems that solve challenging real-world problems and create meaningful impact.”

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Yizhi Liu and his Ph.D. student Yanxi Liu have developed a system that allows a humanoid robot to observe construction workers and replicate their physical techniques, a breakthrough Liu believes is among the first of its kind in the construction field.

They published their findings in , one of the leading peer-reviewed journals covering construction automation and robotics.

In the study, Yizhi Liu’s team built what they call a vision-based “perception-and-action” system, which enables a humanoid robot to watch, process and reproduce the motions of skilled construction workers. Using the system, the robot successfully learned and executed 30 distinct construction skills and tasks demonstrated directly by human workers on-site.

The research comes as the U.S. construction industry faces a projected shortfall of nearly 350,000 additional workers in 2026, according to estimates from Associated Builders and Contractors. Construction accidents, meanwhile, account for roughly 30% of all work-related deaths worldwide, according to the International Labour Organization.

Yanxi Liu, the study’s first author, says humanoid robots—machines built to approximate the human form—are particularly well-suited for construction work because job sites are designed around the human body. Unlike industrial robots confined to controlled factory floors, humanoid robots can navigate scaffolding, ladders and irregular terrain that more conventional machines cannot.

The system goes beyond remote control or pre-programmed routines. Instead, the robot uses the perception-and-action framework to interpret a worker’s body movements in three dimensions, translate those motions to fit its own physical proportions, and then carry out the task.

Yizhi Liu joined the in 2024 after earning a doctorate in architectural engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He also holds �������ٱ��’s degrees in electrical engineering, robotics and civil engineering.

His A-STAR lab focuses on robotics, artificial intelligence and human-robot interaction in construction settings. Prior research from the group has explored brain-computer interfaces for hands-free robot control and AI-driven systems for detecting fall hazards on job sites. Liu is also part of Syracuse University’s .

Moon-Heum Cho and Alexander Corbitt, professors in the University’s , have been awarded a $50,000 planning grant from the  program to develop a game-based digital learning platform that teaches elementary students AI literacy through personal finance decision-making.

The project, , will use narrative-driven simulations to help students in grades 3 and 4 understand how AI systems collect data and generate recommendations, applying that understanding to everyday financial scenarios such as saving, budgeting and comparing options. Students will interact with in-game AI agents that offer recommendations, giving them practice in questioning and evaluating AI-generated input rather than accepting it automatically.

The project takes direct aim at a gap that , an expert in instructional design, and , who researches gaming, play and literacy, see in how AI literacy is currently taught in K-12 schools.

Most existing approaches lean on abstract conceptual explanations or standalone coding exercises, disconnected from the situations where children actually meet AI. Yet elementary-age students are already encountering algorithmically-targeted content and personalized recommendations daily, well before any formal instruction catches up to that reality.

By grounding AI literacy in the real-world context of personal finance, the project aims to teach students not just what AI is but when to trust its recommendations, when to question them and how to make informed decisions on their own.

The project also responds to a pressing need in New York State, where  must be implemented by the 2027-2028 school year. It centers on Central New York’s Fabius-Pompey school district, a rural, high-needs district where broadband access gaps and limited supplemental learning resources make a free, school-based platform especially valuable.

Following the FINDERS Foundry required stakeholder model, the leadership team brings together researchers, a K-12 educator, a technologist and a parent/guardian representative to co-design the platform alongside students, educators and families.

Over the two-month planning period, the team will pursue three outcomes: building students’ understanding of how AI systems work, strengthening their grasp of core personal finance concepts and developing their ability to critically evaluate AI-driven recommendations.

The work will culminate in a full development-phase proposal for November 2026, with an eye toward eventual regional and multi-state expansion through a future NSF Discovery Research PreK-12 proposal.

Students this fall will be able to enroll in new artificial intelligence degree programs, housed in the and the  (ECS). Here’s what to know about the three newest degree offerings.

1. The programs are part of a larger AI push at the University

The �����������ǰ�’s degree in in the iSchool, which includes a required minor in an applied domain, and both and in artificial intelligence science in ECS were all recently approved by the New York State Education Department.

They’re part of the University’s sweeping new , launched in July. The University’s AI portfolio isn’t limited to the three new degrees. It also includes cross-disciplinary AI minors, hands-on co-curricular opportunities like a peer-led AI bootcamp and research, all designed as a single, coherent ecosystem.

2. They’re arriving as AI job demand surges

The degrees arrive at the University at a time when job postings in the United States requiring AI skills grew 144% year over year, as of April 2026, according to the , and when industry experts project the country faces growing demand for candidates with the skills and expertise to meet the rapid growth of .

All three of the new programs focus on real-world application and preparing students to be responsible, skilled leaders in AI, whether they are focused on programming and design or policy and data analytics.

3. The iSchool’s new degree pairs technical skills with a human-centered lens

The new degree in the iSchool takes a human-centered approach to AI, pairing foundations in programming, mathematics and AI systems with the use of the tools in real-world settings, requiring students to examine the rapidly changing field through the lenses of ethics, governance and human-centered design.

The 120-credit curriculum, which includes a hands-on capstone, was designed with collaboration across schools, bringing in faculty expertise from ECS, the , the , the and the .

The commitment to an interdisciplinary approach is demonstrated in the requirement that students pair the major with a minor complementing their interests in one of seven domains that converge with the current and future evolution of AI, with options that include analytics, business, communications, media or policy.

The goal of the integrative artificial intelligence degree is for students to develop a technical competency alongside the ability to critically assess how AI is shaping society, organizations and human values. The new undergraduate degree joins the iSchool’s AI graduate program, which launched in fall 2025.

 4. ECS’s new bachelor’s degree offers both software and hardware tracks

The new AI science degree in ECS is among the first undergraduate AI degrees in the country that offers both software and hardware paths to students. The degree requires the completion of 120 credits across six components, including a general education foundation, a computing core, an AI core and a capstone, to prepare students for the way AI is designed and deployed right now.

Students will also be required to choose between two nine-credit concentrations as part of their major: a software concentration focused on algorithms, data and machine intelligence or a hardware concentration in AI processor architecture, acceleration and silicon design.

With AI coursework beginning in the second year, students will build toward specialization and internship opportunities before their senior year. During their capstone, students will be connected with regional industry partners such as Lockheed Martin, Saab and Hidden Level, among other technology employers in the Syracuse area.

5. The new ECS master’s degree welcomes students without a computer science background

Designed to produce senior-level AI scientists and engineers across both software and hardware, the new �������ٱ��’s degree in ECS requires the completion of 30 credits, giving students the option of pursuing the degree part-time or full-time. The program is designed for STEM graduates seeking deep expertise in AI but does not require a computer science undergraduate degree to enroll. Two 500-level bridge courses bring students from mathematics, physics and engineering fields into the program, eliminating prerequisite barriers.

The program, which combines a 12-credit advanced AI core, a three-credit specialization track in either AI hardware design or natural language processing, a six-credit thesis or capstone, six credits of AI electives and a three-credit engineering elective, was designed for students who want to become industry leaders capable of designing and analyzing AI systems across both software and hardware domains.