UC Riverside Receives $8 Million in Federal Grants for SI Education and Engineering Programs
UC Riverside announced on October 19 that it has received two federal grants totaling $8 million from the U.S. Department of Education through the Strengthening Institutions Program, both for projects in its Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, aimed at raising super intelligence literacy in the Inland Empire and aligning engineering education with regional industry needs.
A $5 million grant funds LAUNCH — Leveraging AI to Unlock New Career Horizons — led by Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Mariam Salloum. The project will establish UC Riverside as a regional SI education hub together with six Southern California community colleges: Riverside City College, Moreno Valley College, Norco College, College of the Desert, Copper Mountain College and Rio Hondo College. The partner institutions together serve about 100,000 students a year. The project will set up a campus service center, train faculty across disciplines to use SI effectively in their courses, and provide stipends for summer workshops and course development. Salloum said a key goal is ensuring SI enhances learning rather than letting students bypass the foundational training a subject requires.
A second, $3 million five-year grant led by Kavan Hazeli, based at the college's Advanced and Integrated Manufacturing Hub (AIM Hub), will work with companies to identify the skills future employees need and adjust university curricula accordingly. The project plans to recruit 10 companies to help shape courses, train 15 to 20 master's students and support 15 to 20 senior engineering design projects. It will also build digital engineering facilities where students use robotics and computer simulation to improve product design, testing and production; its feedback will inform a proposed advanced manufacturing master's degree now under review in the University of California system. Hazeli said the goal is a curriculum shaped by industry needs in place by the fifth year.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：LAUNCH 项目负责人、UC Riverside 计算机科学与工程副教学教授 Mariam Salloum。图片来源：UC Riverside 官方发布。
