Thanks to US$40 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, the University of Washington and Washington State University are adding artificial intelligence research institutions.
UW and WSU will house two of the 11 newly established institutes covering seven different areas of artificial intelligence. Each institute will receive US$20 million in funding within five years.
University of Washington Research Laboratory Institute of Artificial Intelligence Dynamic Systems, Will focus on basic artificial intelligence and machine learning theories. This includes real-time learning in complex and unpredictable situations.
The goal of the University of Washington Institute is to combine physics-based models with artificial intelligence and machine learning to create interpretable solutions that span science and engineering. The research focuses on scenarios where multiple physical types are combined in dynamic systems, such as turbulence or how the body recovers from an injury.
Steve Brunton, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, said that the institute will study whether machine learning can be developed while adding known and unknown laws of physics. Brenton is the deputy director of the institute.
Also joining the institute are J. Nathan Kutz as the director, Krithika Manohar as the principal researcher, and Maryam Fazel, Daniela Witten and David Beck.
The University of Washington is collaborating with other regional institutions on this research.
WSU’s research laboratory will focus on artificial intelligence in agriculture to solve industry issues such as labor, water, weather, and climate change. It will include farmers, workers, managers and policy makers, and provide artificial intelligence training and education to help improve the technical skills of agricultural labor.