Zhao Will Use $50,000 Grant for Collaborative AI Research
Zhao Receives Inaugural Microsoft AFMR Grant
Microsoft has announced Alabama A&M University Professor Dr. Xiang (Susie) Zhao was selected as one of ten inaugural grant recipients through the Accelerate Foundation Models Research (AFMR) Minority Serving Institutions grant program.
The AFMR program provides researchers with access to state-of-the-art tools necessary to conduct meaningful and impactful research on AI. In addition to a $50,000 grant award, recipients are provided with credits to access leading-edge models hosted by Microsoft.
Zhao, the Principal Investigator and Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Director of the Laboratory of Advanced Modeling, Simulation and Data Science, will use the grant to research responsible AI.
“This project aims to accelerate the research in environmental justice analysis for intelligent disaster recovery and city planning using data analytics tools and AI foundation models,” says Zhao. “Faculty researchers and students will get the opportunity to learn and employ the resources and tools developed by Microsoft to tackle real-world challenges, thanks to the generous support of Microsoft and Georgia Tech.”
AFMR is a collaborative effort with the academic research community and part of the Microsoft pledge to support the President’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.
The project will draw on AAMU's research and development partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the top engineering schools in the world.
“This pilot project will help strengthen the collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology and Microsoft Research, and improve the research and education capacities in big data analytics, responsible AI and high-performance computing at AAMU,” says Dr. Majed Dweik, AAMU VP for Research and Economic Development. “We are excited to have this initiative at AAMU and look forward to more collaboration.”
“We are proud of Dr. Zhao and all of the AAMU EECS faculty who are doing cutting-edge research, while also providing great workforce development experiences for our student body," adds Dr. Andrew Scott, Chairperson of Department of EECS and President of AAMU-RISE.
For more information about Microsoft Research Forum and AFMR, contact Dr. Zhao at xiang.zhao@aamu.edu