Grants

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AI ENTRY PATHWAYS

Led by Miami Dade College (MDC), in collaboration with Houston Community College (HCC), and Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Entry Pathways project aims to increase high school students and adult learners' access to AI degrees at community colleges. To prepare the next generation of talent for a diverse, well-trained AI workforce, the project will establish and strengthen entry pathways into AI education by developing scalable strategies and best practices on how to recruit, retain, complete and transition students in AI programs.

The three colleges will leverage the industry partners and the outreach of their National Applied AI Consortium to align with the latest trends in AI workforce and to disseminate results to community colleges nationally.

AI Entry Pathways is funded with $2 million from the National Science Foundation directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and STEM Education as part of NSF’s EducateAI initiative. The project is set to start in January 2025.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

As part of this National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, NAAIC will focus on the following objectives:

  1. To develop and disseminate an AI Framework for high school students to be adequately engaged and prepared for a two-year AI degree program at a community college
  2. To develop and implement an AI Teacher Academy to train high school teachers on properly preparing students for educational pathways and careers in AI
  3. To engage high school students in academic AI-related activities including camps and dual enrollment courses as an entry pathway to community college AI degree programs
  4. To implement strategies to support adult learners joining two-year AI programs at community colleges.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

  • Antonio Delgado, (P.I.), VP of Innovation and Technology Partnerships, MDC
  • Habib Matar, (Co-P.I.), Lead AI Faculty, MCCCD
  • Samir Saber (Co-P.I.), Dean, Digital & Information Technology, HCC
  • Nickolas Dodd, (Co-P.I.), AI Faculty, MCCCD

Sponsor

Full support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award No. 2433939. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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