NCCU opened the first AI institute at a historically Black college or university in the USA
NCCU founded IAIER, the first AI research institute at a historically Black college or university in the USA, with a grant of 1 million dollars from Google.org and over 2800 students and community members involved.
Siobahn Day Grady, an associate professor at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), founded the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research (IAIER) in January 2025 — according to the article, the first institute focused on artificial intelligence research at a historically Black college or university (HBCU) in the USA. The institute was established with support from a grant of 1 million dollars from Google.org and, in less than two years, has involved over 2800 students, faculty members and local community residents in its research and educational activities.
According to a 2025 report by the Center for American Progress and Thurgood Marshall College Fund, HBCUs make up about 3 percent of four-year colleges and universities in the USA but receive less than 1 percent of federal research and development funding; 17 of the 43 federal agencies that distributed research funding in 2023 provided no support to HBCUs at all. Meanwhile, according to the article, NCCU does not yet have a separate computer science degree program; it is still being developed alongside a new AI-focused minor.
As part of IAIER, all first-year students at NCCU must complete an introductory AI course developed in collaboration with IBM, focused on basic prompting skills. The institute has also awarded faculty members grants of up to 10 000 dollars for 11 projects in fields such as social work, digital archiving, healthcare and information science — for example, a lab where social work students practice interacting with clients through simulations. IAIER also organizes events connecting students and faculty with companies including Deloitte, FICO, Anthropic, Google and IBM, while partnerships with Google and IBM enable students to earn recognized certifications.
You can find details in the source article.
Why it matters
The article describes efforts by one American university to make AI education accessible across disciplines despite persistently lower funding for HBCU institutions from federal agencies. This is a local educational initiative with no direct technical or product impact, which can be read as an example of how colleges and universities with limited resources build an AI curriculum through corporate partnerships and grants.
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