Georgia Tech’s artificial intelligence (AI) research and education efforts are entering a new phase with $38.4 million in renewed support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for two Georgia Tech-led National AI Institutes.

NSF has awarded $20 million to renew the National AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (NSF AI4OPT) through 2031 and $18.4 million to renew the National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (NSF AI-ALOE) for a new five-year period. The awards will support research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and optimization, as well as the development of AI technologies for adult learning, higher education, and workforce development. A third Georgia Tech-led National AI Institute, the AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups (AI-CARING), will continue its research under a one-year no-cost extension.

Together, the institutes represent a broad range of AI research at Georgia Tech, with work spanning energy systems, advanced manufacturing, education, reskilling, and workforce development.

The renewed investments come as NSF continues to prioritize artificial intelligence, advanced research infrastructure, and development of the nation’s STEM workforce.

“Georgia Tech has built a nationally recognized ecosystem for artificial intelligence research, education, and application,” said Tim Lieuwen, interim president and executive vice president for Research at Georgia Tech. “These NSF investments recognize the strength of our researchers and the importance of advancing AI in ways that address real-world challenges. The continued support for NSF AI4OPT and NSF AI-ALOE will allow Georgia Tech researchers to push the boundaries of what AI can accomplish while preparing students, educators, and the workforce for an increasingly AI-enabled future.”

Advancing AI-Powered Decision-Making

The $20 million renewal of NSF AI4OPT builds on five years of research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and mathematical optimization.

Led by Pascal Van Hentenryck, the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, NSF AI4OPT develops AI and optimization technologies for complex systems where decisions must be made quickly, efficiently, and under uncertainty.

In its next phase, the institute will place greater emphasis on real-time and interactive optimization, advancing scalable, efficient, and trustworthy approaches to decision-making. Research will continue to address challenges in areas such as energy, supply chains, transportation, and advanced manufacturing.

“NSF AI4OPT’s first five years demonstrated the power of bringing AI and optimization together to address some of the most challenging decision-making problems facing society,” said Van Hentenryck. “This renewal gives us the opportunity to build on that foundation and develop AI systems that can reason, optimize, and make decisions in real time. We are especially excited about advancing trustworthy AI for complex systems in energy, supply chains, and manufacturing, while continuing to educate the next generation of AI researchers and practitioners, starting with middle and high schoolers.”

NSF AI4OPT combines artificial intelligence, mathematical optimization, and computing to create systems that support decisions in complex and dynamic environments. Its research includes applications in critical infrastructure and industry, where decisions often involve competing objectives, uncertainty, and rapidly changing conditions.

The institute also has an education and workforce development mission, introducing AI and optimization concepts to students and educators while preparing learners for an AI-enabled workforce.

“NSF AI4OPT represents exactly the kind of interdisciplinary research that Georgia Tech is positioned to lead,” said Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech and former dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “The institute connects foundational advances in artificial intelligence and optimization with engineering challenges that have direct implications for our economy and society. Its continued investment in research and education strengthens Georgia Tech’s ability to prepare students to lead in a rapidly changing technological landscape.”

Advancing Adaptive Expertise Through AI

NSF AI-ALOE’s renewed $18.4 million award launches the institute’s next five years of research into how artificial intelligence can transform adult learning and online education.

The renewal builds on NSF AI-ALOE’s previous work, including the development of seven AI agents and a data architecture for AI-augmented learning. Its next phase will focus on adaptive expertise, or the ability to apply and transfer learned skills to new situations.

AI-ALOE’s research in Phase 2 will expand beyond traditional educational settings into workplace and vocational training, with a focus on occupational skills in areas including advanced manufacturing and data science.

NSF AI-ALOE will also build on advances in generative and agentic AI to develop AI agents that support the acquisition of complex skills across higher education and workplace environments.

“NSF AI-ALOE’s renewal reflects an important shift in how we think about AI and learning,” said Ashok Goel, director of NSF AI-ALOE and professor of computer science and human-centered computing in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. “Our goal is not simply to use AI to deliver more content or automate instruction. We are exploring how AI can help people develop adaptive expertise, so they can transfer what they learn to new and changing situations. That has enormous implications for higher education, workforce development, and lifelong learning.”

The institute’s research will examine four dimensions of AI-supported learning: scalability, personalization, transfer of learned skills, and whole-person learning. It will also advance foundational AI research in machine teaching, metacognition in AI agents, and mutual theory of mind between humans and AI agents.

NSF AI-ALOE will use the data architecture developed in Phase 1 that is capable of ingesting, standardizing, analyzing, and visualizing information generated through interactions with AI tools, learning management systems, and student information systems. Researchers will use that data to better understand how learners and instructors interact with AI and improve AI-powered learning technologies.

The institute is also expanding partnerships with higher education institutions and industry. Its research network includes five colleges and universities and six industry partners in advanced manufacturing and related fields, creating opportunities to reach as many as 370,000 learners nationally through skilling, reskilling, and upskilling efforts.

“AI is changing both what people need to learn and how they can learn it,” said David Joyner, Zvi Galil PEACE Chair in the College of Computing and interim vice provost for AI in Education at Georgia Tech. “NSF AI-ALOE is uniquely positioned to study that transformation at scale. Its work can help us understand how AI can support learners without replacing the human elements of education, while giving people new ways to build and apply skills throughout their lives and careers.”

Continuing AI-CARING’s Research

The renewed support for NSF AI4OPT and NSF AI-ALOE builds on Georgia Tech’s broader participation in the National AI Institutes program.

Georgia Tech’s AI-CARING Institute will continue its research under a one-year no-cost extension, allowing the institute to carry forward its research objectives and partnerships.

The continued work of AI-CARING, alongside the renewed investments in NSF AI4OPT and NSF AI-ALOE, reflects the breadth of Georgia Tech’s AI research community and its work across disciplines.

From AI Research to Real-World Impact

The renewed NSF investments build on Georgia Tech’s broader efforts to advance AI research, education, and application through Georgia Tech AI and Tech AI.

Georgia Tech AI connects Tech’s AI community across research, education, and impact. Tech AI complements this work by serving as Georgia Tech’s engineering and delivery arm, bringing together researchers, engineers, research software engineers, students, and technical expertise to move AI projects from early-stage concepts toward operational systems.

This connection helps create a pathway from foundational research to technologies that can be developed, tested, and deployed in real-world settings.

For NSF AI4OPT, that work includes AI systems that support complex decisions in critical systems and industries, from energy and manufacturing to supply chains and transportation. For NSF AI-ALOE, it includes AI technologies that help people acquire, apply, and transfer skills across classrooms, workplaces, and lifelong learning environments.

Tech AI works at the application and deployment stage, partnering with researchers, industry, and public-sector organizations to develop and implement scalable AI solutions. Its work spans AI engineering and solution delivery, applied research, industry and government partnerships, workforce development, and responsible and trustworthy AI.

“Georgia Tech’s strength in AI comes from the connections between research, talent, and application,” said Timothy M. Brown, managing director of Tech AI. “Our NSF AI Institutes advance research across critical areas, while Tech AI serves as Georgia Tech’s engineering and delivery arm, working with industry and public-sector partners to turn AI expertise and research into deployable solutions. Together, these efforts create a pathway from AI innovation to real-world impact.”

Together with AI-CARING and Georgia Tech’s broader AI research community, the institutes contribute to a universitywide effort to advance AI that is technically innovative, human-centered, and designed for meaningful impact.

“AI is transforming virtually every sector, and Georgia Tech has a responsibility to help shape that transformation,” Lieuwen said. “These institutes bring together some of Tech’s strongest capabilities in research, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Their renewed support gives us an opportunity not only to advance the science of AI, but also to ensure that the benefits of these technologies reach the people, organizations, and communities that will rely on them.”

About the Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees, as well as professional development and K-12 programs for fostering success at every stage of life. Its more than 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students represent 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 146 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, and through distance and online learning.

As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry and society.

About the National Science Foundation

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports science and technology in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. For more than 75 years, NSF has advanced the frontiers of STEM research and innovation. To keep the United States at the leading edge of discovery, NSF funds basic and solutions-oriented research that generates new knowledge to fuel industries of the future, create world-leading technologies, and improve the lives of the American people.