POUGHKEEPSIE – Marist University and IBM are launching an innovation incubator designed to give students and faculty hands-on experience with artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, the university announced.
The Innovation Incubator, the latest development in the institutions’ more than 50-year partnership, will include an IBM z17 mainframe that will provide high-performance computing capabilities on campus for research projects involving students and faculty.
The initiative will bring together students, faculty researchers and IBM experts to work on projects spanning business, finance, polling and civic engagement.
Among the initial projects is an effort involving Marist’s schools of Computer Science and Mathematics and Management to test autonomous artificial intelligence agents in simulated marketing campaigns. Researchers plan to examine whether safeguards can prevent AI agents from engaging in aggressive, deceptive, or unethical tactics and contain failures when they occur.
The Marist Poll and the School of Computer Science and Mathematics are also proposing a project examining how artificial intelligence could be used to improve polling methods and survey design and better model voter participation trends.
Marist and IBM said their partnership historically focused on enterprise computing and computer science education but is expanding to include university-wide artificial intelligence research, interdisciplinary projects and experiential learning opportunities.
The IBM z17 system is designed for enterprise computing and is intended to provide students with experience developing and testing applications using technology designed for large organizations.
“At Marist, we believe the future of higher education lies at the intersection of academic excellence and meaningful industry engagement,” Marist President Kevin Weinman said in a statement. Our longstanding relationship with IBM has always distinguished Marist as a place where students gain access to cutting-edge technology and applied learning experiences. Today, we’re building on that foundation to create new opportunities in artificial intelligence, research, and innovation that span the entire university.”
The companies did not provide a timeline for completion of the initial research projects.
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