#201: UHCL's NASA Partnership + UT System's Enterprise AI Strategy [EDUCAUSE 2024]
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Featuring:
- Dr. LeeBrian Gaskins, Senior Associate Vice President of IT/CIO at University of Houston-Clear Lake
- William Huang, Deputy CIO, University of Texas System
What You’ll Learn:
Student-Centered Innovation in Higher Ed
UT System declared 2024 as "the year of the student," implementing the 25-year-old Archer Center Fellows program that brings 30-40 undergraduate, graduate, and medical students to Washington D.C. for leadership development
The UT System's 12-week summer internship program provides students with 9 hours weekly of professional development alongside functional work in IT, business, accounting, and legal areas
UHCL prioritizes graduate education growth through collaborative approaches with other Houston institutions, rejecting the "zero-sum game" mentality in student recruitment to create shared student success
Enterprise AI Implementation Strategy
UT Health Houston formalized a major partnership with OpenAI to provide advanced AI tools for medical students and clinical faculty, representing one of several mission-specific AI implementations
UT System has deployed a multi-node private AI cluster at their shared data center for all 14 institutions to develop business use cases, creating a secure on-premises AI environment
UHCL is developing 24/7 AI tutoring systems that help students identify knowledge gaps before exams and using AI analytics to mine historical student data for previously unrecognized improvement opportunities
Cross-Campus Collaboration Framework
The UT System achieves economies of scale by site-licensing Microsoft tools for all 256,000 students, faculty, staff and clinicians across its 14 institutions
UHCL collaborates with neighboring Houston campuses to create consistent experiences for faculty who teach across multiple institutions and share licensing resources
Regional partnerships between campuses with similar demographics (like Hispanic-serving institutions) enable targeted technology solutions for specific student populations
Space & AI Educational Innovation
UHCL was established through direct partnership with NASA, whose director requested graduate education facilities near the space center 50 years ago
The university houses NASA archives through the Space Act and maintains strong aerospace engineering and space exploration business programs
UT San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio jointly created one of the first programs combining a medical degree with a master's in AI, featuring three years of medical education, one year of AI focus, and a capstone integration year
Timestamps
01:37 - William Huang's background and DJ experience
02:00 - 2024: "The Year of the Student" and Archer Center Fellows
04:42 - Enterprise AI Strategy across UT System
07:58 - UHCL's AI Policy and Student Success Applications
10:53 - Balancing System-Wide Initiatives Across 14 UT Institutions
12:00 - Regional Collaboration Between Houston Area Campuses
16:24 - UHCL's NASA Connection and Aerospace Focus
19:25 - How AI Will Transform Digital Transformation
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