Stony Brook Joins Empire AI SUNY Campus Partnerships to Expand Access to Artificial Intelligence

Stony Brook University, along with the three other State University of New York (SUNY) university centers, will participate in Empire AI campus partnerships with other state colleges to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research and education for the public good.

The partnerships will leverage the Empire AI supercomputer, housed at the State University of New York at Buffalo, to increase access to AI for research and professional development for SUNY students and faculty.

"Through Empire AI, New York is ensuring the power of AI is harnessed responsibly," said New York Governor Kathy Hochul in announcing the partnerships on January 30. "By bringing together SUNY institutions through these campus partnerships, we are furthering the use of AI for the public good and shaping a brighter future for all New Yorkers."

SUNY's four university centers at Stony Brook, Buffalo, Albany and Binghamton will partner with several of SUNY's university colleges, technology colleges, and community colleges to provide research experiences, professional development, microcredential courses, and other opportunities for students and faculty to effectively and ethically use AI.

"Governor Hochul's continued leadership has placed SUNY and New York State at the forefront of harnessing AI for the public good. SUNY is proud to leverage the largest statewide comprehensive system of public higher education in the country to ensure that more students are able to drive research and move innovation forward," said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. "We are grateful to Governor Hochul for her leadership and investment to advance AI in New York State."

Stony Brook is partnering with Farmingdale State College and Suffolk County Community College and launching AI Innovation and Diffusion, an eight-week research experience program for undergraduates that will recruit 40 students, 20 from each participating campus, from across all disciplines to receive a $5,000 stipend and spend eight weeks at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, receiving mentorship from doctoral students or postdoctoral scholars.

"We are very excited to be hosting 40 top students from Farmingdale State and SUNY Suffolk here at Stony Brook this summer to participate in paid research experiences in AI and its applications across campus," said Lav Varshney, director of Stony Brook's Artificial Intelligence Innovation Institute (AI3). "The positive societal impacts of AI will be strongest when we can drive innovation, ensure appropriate diffusion into nearly every industrial, societal, and scholarly sector, and build a broad-based workforce that can take it forward. This initiative is meant to strengthen economic strength by hitting all three."

Empire AI is the Governor's nation-leading initiative to advance AI research for the public good, led by an independent consortium of members. It is backed by more than $500 million in public and private funding, and is made up of 10 member universities and research institutions. In May 2025, Hochul secured funding to expand access for SUNY researchers at Stony Brook, Buffalo, Albany and Binghamton, and support the addition of new members including the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. They joined the seven founding members of Empire AI: SUNY, CUNY, Columbia University, Cornell University, NYU, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Flatiron Institute.

In her 2026 State of the State agenda, Hochul proposed the launch of Empire AI Beta, which will accelerate Empire AI's performance to 11 times its former scale, making it the world's most advanced academic supercomputer.