According to their website the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute (IIDAI) “is a new model of academic-industry partnership designed to increase access to technology education and skill development to spur breakthroughs in emerging areas of technology including hybrid cloud and AI, quantum computing, accelerated materials discovery, and sustainability to accelerate the discovery of solutions to complex global challenges.”
What does all of that mean? More simply explained, Grainger College of Engineering has partnered with IBM to fund initiatives meant to get middle and high schools students interested in STEM, as well as deepening the experiences of undergraduate students. They are doing that in a few ways:
- Learning Electronics, AI, and Programming (LEAP) summer camp, where high school students worked with Electrical and Computer Engineering students to build an operational weather station
- CISTEME365, an initiative that utilizes after school STEM clubs and the summer Young Scholars Research Program to increase access to STEM curriculum
- Providing financial support for undergrads to pursue research
You can read more about the work of the IIDAI here.