NCCU launches first AI research institute at an HBCU

In January 2025, Siobahn Day Grady, an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), launched the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research (IAIER), the first AI research institute at a historically Black college or university (HBCU). The institute grew out of a smaller lab Grady started in 2020, and after a 2024 opportunity to apply for a Google grant, she built it into a university-wide initiative that, in her words, has 'operated like a startup.' Backed by a $1 million Google.org grant, IAIER has engaged more than 2,800 students, faculty members and community residents through research initiatives and training in under two years.

Grady's goal is AI literacy for the whole campus, not just computer science students. NCCU does not yet have a dedicated computer science program, though it is developing one alongside a new AI minor. In the meantime, all NCCU freshmen are required to complete an introductory AI course, designed in partnership with IBM, that builds foundational prompting skills, and IAIER has worked with faculty development teams to help instructors fold AI into their teaching across disciplines.

The institute exists against a backdrop of stark funding inequality. HBCUs account for roughly 3 percent of four year institutions in the United States, but according to a 2025 report from the Center for American Progress and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, they receive less than 1 percent of federal research and development funding. The same report found that 17 of the 43 federal agencies that distributed research funding to universities in 2023 awarded no funding to HBCUs at all.

On the research and industry side, IAIER has awarded seed grants of up to $10,000 to faculty exploring AI applications across departments. The first cohort funded 11 projects spanning social work, digital archiving, health care and information science, including a simulation lab where social work students practice client interactions. The institute has run sessions with companies including Deloitte, FICO and Anthropic, and partnerships with Google and IBM let students earn recognized certificates. Last year, IAIER hosted the first OpenAI Academy Summit held at an HBCU, drawing 444 participants from more than 40 institutions.

Sustaining that momentum is now the main challenge. Grady says funding is the biggest barrier to keeping the institute going, as demand for its programs outpaces its capacity. The political climate adds uncertainty: US universities broadly are grappling with proposed cuts to federal research spending and increased scrutiny of diversity focused initiatives under the Trump administration, though in September 2025 the administration also announced a $500 million one time investment in HBCUs and higher education institutions chartered by Native American tribal governments. Separately, IAIER and partners including Howard University received a nearly $500,000 National Science Foundation award last September, through a research coordination network program meant to help define emerging AI jobs and skills. This fall, IAIER is set to open its first dedicated physical space on campus. Grady's longer term plans include launching NCCU's computer science major and AI minor, expanding faculty research opportunities, deepening industry partnerships, and building what she calls a framework that any university, not only HBCUs, can adapt.

Key facts

IAIER launched in January 2025 at NCCU, the first AI research institute at a historically Black college or university, backed by a $1 million Google.org grant.
In under two years, the institute has engaged more than 2,800 students, faculty members and community residents.
HBCUs make up roughly 3 percent of US four year institutions but receive less than 1 percent of federal R&D funding; 17 of the 43 agencies that funded university research in 2023 gave HBCUs nothing.
Seed grants of up to $10,000 funded 11 faculty projects in the first cohort, and IAIER hosted the first OpenAI Academy Summit held at an HBCU, drawing 444 participants from over 40 institutions.
IAIER also received a nearly $500,000 NSF award with Howard University and two other institutions, and plans to open its first dedicated physical campus space this fall.

Why it matters

IAIER is the first AI research institute founded at an HBCU, launched into a system where HBCUs make up roughly 3 percent of four year US institutions but receive less than 1 percent of federal research and development funding, and where 17 of the 43 federal agencies that funded university research in 2023 gave HBCUs none of it. Against that backdrop, a single $1 million Google.org grant let Grady build a university wide AI initiative rather than another isolated faculty lab, engaging more than 2,800 people in under two years. It is also a case study in how universities without a computer science department are folding AI skills into every discipline rather than treating them as a specialist track.

Who it affects

NCCU's own students first: every freshman now takes a required introductory AI course built with IBM, and faculty across departments, from social work to digital archiving to health care, can apply for IAIER's seed grants. It also reaches community residents through IAIER's training programs, and industry partners such as Deloitte, FICO, Anthropic, Google and IBM who run sessions and certificate programs with the institute. Grady frames the eventual audience more broadly still: a framework she hopes other HBCUs, and universities generally, can adapt.

How to use it

For NCCU students, access runs through the required freshman AI course and, for upperclassmen, certificate programs built with Google and IBM. Faculty can apply for IAIER's seed grants of up to $10,000 to fund AI research in their own field; the first cohort funded 11 such projects. Outside NCCU, the institute's public facing route is its industry events and conferences, including the OpenAI Academy Summit it hosted last year for participants from more than 40 institutions, and, going forward, the collaborative research coordination network it runs with Howard University and two other partners under a nearly $500,000 NSF award.

How solid is it

The account rests on an on the record interview with Siobahn Day Grady in IEEE Spectrum, with concrete figures, most of them dollar amounts and headcounts tied to named funders (Google.org, the NSF, a 2025 federal announcement) or a named report from the Center for American Progress and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The launch date, grant size, participant counts and seed grant program are all stated directly rather than estimated. The article does not give IAIER's total budget, staff headcount, or any outcome data such as graduation or employment rates for students who went through its programs, so the institute's actual educational impact beyond the reported activity numbers is not established here.

Risks and caveats

Grady names funding sustainability as the institute's single biggest risk, since demand for its programs is already outpacing capacity. That risk sits inside a wider political headwind: US universities broadly face proposed cuts to federal research spending and increased scrutiny of diversity focused initiatives under the current administration, even though the same administration separately announced a $500 million one time investment in HBCUs and tribally chartered institutions in September 2025. The article gives no comparison to AI institutes at non-HBCU universities in scale or funding, and the exact calendar year for the 'last September' NSF award is not stated, only its position relative to the article's writing.

“There used to be a time where people could say, 'I don't do tech,' or 'That's not for me.' But we're in a stage now where you do need digital skills. Now it's evolving into AI literacy.”

— Siobahn Day Grady, associate professor at NCCU and founder of IAIER