From 2018-2023, RPI and IBM had a joint research collaboration on Artificial Intelligence. During that time over 35 faculty members from RPI and about 40 researchers from IBM worked together on several projects aimed at solving fundamental AI challenges. In the years as the "Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboratio" (AIRC) researchers worked together and produced over 100 co-authored papers in major conferences and journals, funded over 200 graduate student research terms for close to 100 graduate students, with many of these including embedding the students in IBM researcher’s labs for a summer (at all of IBM’s three major research centers in the US – Yorktown, Cambridge and Almaden).
In 2024, an agreement was made to continue this outstanding collaboration, and to extend it to cover more of the emerging key areas of research overlap between our two organizations. In addition to foundational AI challenges, the renamed "Future of Computing Research Collaboration" (FCRC) is now looking at three other key areas – energy efficient AI computational hardware, microelectronics with an emphasis on areas such as materials discovery and networking support, and quantum computing applications.
The first year of the new collaboration has resulted in 24 new projects, over 50 papers in top publications, and students spending time at IBM’s Albany facility as well as the others. In a separate agreement, RPI became the first university to ever host an IBM Quantum One computer, and several projects within the FCRC have included use of the machine with particular emphases on both the linkage of high-performance computing to Quantum machines in real time, and with an exploration into the features of Quantum Machine Learning. In the summer of 2025, we expect over 20 graduate students to participate in projects at the IBM laboratories, and the launch of several new and exciting projects to continue the successful joint collaboration.
