Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Research: AI/Machine Learning

The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus is shaping the future of technology. With groundbreaking investments from the Commonwealth of Virginia and leading corporations in the region, the Innovation Campus’s mission is to educate the nation’s leading architects of complex, cutting-edge digital technologies through a graduate education that embeds our diverse students and faculty into the science and technology ecosystem of our nation’s capital and beyond. In addition, our research assembles around big ideas such as AI/ML, Wireless and Next Gen Technology, Quantum Information Science, and Intelligent Interfaces, with the goal of powering a pipeline of tech talent and building the foundation for a new era of technology.

The 11-story, 300,000 sq. ft. first academic building for the Innovation Campus, located in Alexandria, VA, is set to open in spring 2025. The Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics will be located on the 5^th floor of the new technology-focused building.

Unique blend of areas

The Sanghani Center is at the forefront of data science, machine learning, and AI research at Virginia Tech. What uniquely defines us is the bringing together of not just machine learning scientists with data engineers, but also with human-computer interaction experts, as well as researchers who study the social and ethical aspects of AI. This blends traditional mathematical and computational discovery with the broader contexts in which AI is used/applied.

One-of-a-kind partnerships

Students and researchers develop advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms while simultaneously adopting an end-to-end view of how their work gets deployed and used, and how their work impacts consumers. Our partnerships with industry (e.g., through our Amazon-VT Initiative in Efficient and Robust Learning) give students access to one-of-a-kind datasets, platforms, and resources. These partnerships are leveraged for research collaborations as well as project-based-learning (PBL) opportunities in the classroom.

AI for positive impact/service and minimizing adverse consequences

Together, we are crafting a future where AI is a force for positive change in our communities, pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve. At the same time, we never lose sight of the human values that should guide its evolution. True to Virginia Tech’s motto of UT Prosim, we aspire to harness the power of AI for positive impact, while remaining steadfast in our commitment to safeguard against adverse consequences. Our students value public service opportunities and aim to inform policy through their research, working in topics relevant to our region like school redistricting, traffic congestion management, and international trade monitoring.