About

CAIT's mission is to better society through the development and adoption of advanced AI technology contributing to a more secure, connected, creative, sustainable, healthy and equitable humanity.

Connecting and channeling the broad strengths in SEAS and related disciplines through collaborative projects, student fellowships, and outreach programming, the Center will establish a world-class center of knowledge discovery and talent training for broad societal impact. Through a partnership with Amazon - a leading industry collaborator, the Center will leverage the deep insights and extensive experiences in developing robust, scalable AI systems meeting customer needs in critical applications and objectives. Such insights play an essential role in cultivating new research ideas and validating academic research results.

Partnership

Recognizing the broad and deep strengths of Columbia Engineering and the wider AI community at Columbia University, Amazon is elevating its collaboration with Columbia by sponsoring the Center in areas of advanced research development, PhD training, and knowledge dissemination. In addition, Amazon scientists and Columbia faculty/student researchers will collaborate on research projects, participating in monthly AI Technology seminars, semi-annual workshops, and an annual AI Technology conference organized by the Center.

Activities

The Center's activities assemble scholars and practitioners at the leading edge of AI and AI technology development. 

  • PhD Fellows Program: This program supports independent research work by outstanding Columbia Engineering PhD students.
  • Faculty Research Awards: CAIT issues Calls for Proposals for faculty-led research projects. Future CFP opportunities will be announced via email and via the Columbia Engineering Research Funding page.
  • Events and Seminars: CAIT hosts regular events for Columbia's AI research community, including an annual research symposium and showcase, workshops, seminars, and more. Past events can be found on the Events page. 

 

Leadership & Administration

Center Director

Shih-Fu Chang, Dean, Columbia Engineering

Advisory Group Members

Julia Hirschberg (Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson Professor, Computer Science, Columbia University)
Garud Iyengar (Tang Family Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Columbia University)
John Wright (Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Columbia University)
Cliff Stein (Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research/Data Science Institute, Columbia University)
Assaf Zeevi (Kravis Professor, the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University)
Noemie Elhadad (Associate Professor, Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center)

Program Manager

Jessie Taft (Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships)

FAQs

CAIT is a virtual center, meaning that we use existing spaces on campus for our in-person programming. Research takes place in the individual labs of our participating faculty. This unfortunately means that there's not a location to "visit".

At this time, CAIT fellowships are only available to PhD students at Columbia Engineering. If you are enrolled in another program at Columbia, or are not a Columbia student, you're still welcome to attend CAIT events. Sign up for our mailing list to learn more about upcoming events.

If you are a student interested in working in a lab with a faculty member, please reach out to that faculty member directly.

From time to time, CAIT may distribute calls for proposals for research projects. Open calls can be found on the News page. Each call will include specific information about funding levels, project requirements, and eligibility.