Stony Brook University has joined with other State University of New York (SUNY) university centers in a new initiative to broaden access to artificial intelligence (AI) research and education. The effort is part of the Empire AI campus partnerships, which aim to use the Empire AI supercomputer at SUNY Buffalo to support research and professional development for students and faculty across the state.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the partnerships on January 30. She stated, “Through Empire AI, New York is ensuring the power of AI is harnessed responsibly. By bringing together SUNY institutions through these campus partnerships, we are furthering the use of AI for the public good and shaping a brighter future for all New Yorkers.”
The four SUNY university centers—Stony Brook, Buffalo, Albany, and Binghamton—will work with several university colleges, technology colleges, and community colleges within SUNY. The goal is to provide research experiences, professional development opportunities, microcredential courses, and training in ethical uses of AI.
SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said: “Governor Hochul’s continued leadership has placed SUNY and New York State at the forefront of harnessing AI for the public good. SUNY is proud to leverage the largest statewide comprehensive system of public higher education in the country to ensure that more students are able to drive research and move innovation forward. We are grateful to Governor Hochul for her leadership and investment to advance AI in New York State.”
As part of this initiative, Stony Brook will partner with Farmingdale State College and Suffolk County Community College on an eight-week program called AI Innovation and Diffusion. This summer program will select 40 undergraduates—20 from each participating college—to receive $5,000 stipends while conducting research at Stony Brook under mentorship from doctoral or postdoctoral scholars.
Lav Varshney, director of Stony Brook’s Artificial Intelligence Innovation Institute (AI3), commented: “We are very excited to be hosting 40 top students from Farmingdale State and SUNY Suffolk here at Stony Brook this summer to participate in paid research experiences in AI and its applications across campus. The positive societal impacts of AI will be strongest when we can drive innovation, ensure appropriate diffusion into nearly every industrial, societal, and scholarly sector, and build a broad-based workforce that can take it forward. This initiative is meant to strengthen economic strength by hitting all three.”
Empire AI operates as an independent consortium supported by over $500 million in public and private funding. It now includes 10 member universities or research institutions after recent expansion efforts led by Governor Hochul added members such as University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai alongside founding members like Columbia University, Cornell University, NYU, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), CUNY system schools including Flatiron Institute.
In her 2026 State of the State agenda proposal released earlier this year Governor Hochul outlined plans for Empire AI Beta—a major upgrade expected to boost performance elevenfold compared with current capacity—which would make it one of academia’s most advanced supercomputers globally.
