(BIVN) – The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is set to receive over $1.4 million as part of a cutting edge artificial intelligence infrastructure project. 

UH-Hilo will be a part of the nationwide, $152 million Open Multimodal AI Infrastructure to Accelerate Science (OMAI) project. The initiative is being led by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2). 

The OMAI project is being jointly funded by the National Science Foundation ($75 million) and NVIDIA ($77 million). 

UH-Hilo will be a key collaborating institution in the initiative “that will develop the first fully open suite of advanced AI models explicitly designed to fuel U.S. scientific innovation,” the University says. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has more information on its website.

From a UH-Hilo news release:

Travis Mandel, PhD, associate professor of Computer Science and coordinator of the Data Science program at UH Hilo, serves as co-principal investigator on the project. He will co-lead the adaptation and community engagement components of the initiative, which aims to create fully open, multimodal large language models trained on scientific data and literature.

“This award presents an incredible opportunity to bring world-class AI expertise to UH Hilo and help our students better understand the technical details of how these large AI systems work,” said Mandel. “Our Data Science students will gain invaluable hands-on experience with these systems, whether it be studying how well the AI meets the needs of local scientists, or implementing improved training methods to provide better and more reliable assistance with challenging scientific tasks.”

Travis Mandel, PhD, associate professor of Computer Science and coordinator of the Data Science program at UH Hilo, speaking to students. (Photo courtesy the University of Hawaiʻi)

“We are honored to work alongside Ai2 and the other partners on this groundbreaking initiative,” said Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin. “This award reflects our university’s growing strength in data science education and our commitment to advancing Hawaii’s role in the nation’s technological future.” 

The project will directly integrate cutting-edge AI infrastructure into UH Hilo’s academic programs, providing students unprecedented opportunities to contribute to fully open, ethical, and nationally significant AI systems. Students will work alongside Mandel and other AI researchers through summer internships and year-round projects, gaining valuable real-world experience building and evaluating AI models that could transform scientific discovery across multiple disciplines. 

The collaboration will enable UH Hilo students to benefit from the expertise of leading AI researchers while supporting local scientists across Hawaiʻi who wish to incorporate AI into their environmental, marine, and climate research.