Penn State’s AI Center launches new innovation grant programs

The AI Center of Excellence, at The Pennsylvania State University, this week began offering two new grant programs, designed to support the integration of artificial intelligence into teaching and learning.

The grants, which are part of the institution’s AI Transformation Initiative, are open to tenured and non-tenured faculty who’ve held a full-time appointment for at least one academic year. They include the AI in Instruction Microgrant Program, which offers awards of up to $1,000 for generative AI projects aimed at “small-scale instructional innovation.”

The second grant program is the Program or Large Course Transformation Grant Program, which is aimed at “team-based efforts to reimagine teaching and learning at the course or program level.” Awards of up to $50,000 are available to teams of three or more faculty seeking to transform educational programs at the university. According to the university, between six and 10 such projects will be funded.

Penn State launched an AI literacy course for its employees last April, aiming to provide “the knowledge, skills and ethical grounding needed to engage with AI responsibly and effectively across academic and professional contexts.” The university’s business school announced last November it was planning to inject generative AI into its classrooms, research and operations as the school invests in the future of the technology.