Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University are putting their long-term rivalry to rest to join together on a new partnership. The two Texas HBCUs are coming together for a $2.2 million AI research project. The project will use AI technology to accelerate the process of acquiring new materials.
Texas A&M University and the University of Michigan are also involved in the project. Texas Southern is taking the lead on the project after receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research. $600,000 of the funds will go to Prairie View A&M to support a large portion of the project. Together they will establish the Center for Scientific Machine Learning for Material Sciences.
Faculty from both universities will be spearheading the project. Dr. Yunjiao Wang, principal investigator, and Dr. Daniel Vrinceanu, co-principal investigator, from Texas Southern, and Dr. Noushin Ghaffari, principal investigator, and Dr. Lin Li, co-principal investigator, from Prairie View A&M. Using their professional expertise, these scientists will help build a state-of-the-art machine that will aid in accumulating new materials with more speed and accuracy.
According to an article from the North Dallas Gazette, material science is “the study of how everyday materials, such as metals, ceramics, and polymers, can be designed or improved for use in products like airplanes, cars, medical devices, and electronics. When combined with machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, computers can recognize patterns in massive datasets and make predictions.
Not only will the project provide useful research information, but it will also create opportunities for students at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern. Students will have the opportunity to experience workshops, hands-on research experiences, and mentorship opportunities for the upcoming generation of engineers and data scientists. This project will open doors for other HBCUs and minority-serving institutions in the field of research.
