{"id":146757,"date":"2026-08-21T00:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146757\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T00:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:06:15","slug":"uh-community-colleges-secure-645k-for-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146757\/","title":{"rendered":"UH Community Colleges secure $645K for AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reading time:   2 minutes<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Outdoor-GPR.jpg\" alt=\"group of people\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-239302\"  \/>Arjun Aryal (with hat) shows Windward CC students how to use ground-penetrating radar<\/p>\n<p>A $645,000 National Science Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/show-award\/?AWD_ID=2600119\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">grant<\/a> is helping to fuel the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and data science into the <a href=\"https:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Hawai\u02bbi Community Colleges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The three-year project, scheduled to run from October 2026 through September 2029, aims to strengthen the state\u2019s skilled technical workforce by equipping educators at <a href=\"https:\/\/windward.hawaii.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Windward Community College<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kapi\u02bbolani Community College<\/a> to confidently teach and research with modern AI frameworks. The goal is to build a robust pipeline of AI-literate graduates.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/UH-News_AI-Grant2-2.1-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"three students interacting with robot\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-239373\"  \/>Kapi\u02bbolani CC students explore robotics and emerging technologies through hands-on learning.<br \/>\nOnline coursework, professional mentorship<\/p>\n<p>Faculty cohorts will participate in self-directed study and online coursework, and receive individualized mentorship from AI and data science professionals. This collaboration is supported by the <a href=\"https:\/\/intofuture.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Institute for Future Intelligence<\/a> and a network of local AI experts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommunity colleges play a critical role in training Hawai\u02bbi\u2018s skilled technical workforce, yet our STEM faculty may not have the specialized training or bandwidth to keep pace with rapid developments in AI,\u201d said Principal Investigator Arjun Aryal, an instructor at Windward CC. \u201cWe are bridging this gap by pairing community college educators with industry AI experts, giving them the dedicated time and mentoring needed to embed data science and applied AI directly into their classrooms and research.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The project will integrate AI concepts into STEM curricula, promote mentor-guided hands-on applications and host an annual symposium for faculty, students and local employers. Dissemination efforts will also include K\u201312 teacher workshops led by project faculty and the creation of open educational resources.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/UH-News_AI-Grant-2.1-1-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"group of students work on laptops\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-239376\"  \/>Kapi\u02bbolani CC STEM students and faculty collaborate on a tech-based project.<\/p>\n<p>Co-Principal Investigator Aaron Hanai, a professor at Kapi\u02bbolani CC, said. \u201cOur sustained partnerships and annual symposiums will connect students directly with employers, and ensure our graduates enter the workforce with ethically grounded, highly valuable technical skills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This initiative complements the UH\u2019s system-wide commitment to expanding AI literacy and preparing local talent to thrive in an AI -driven economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading time: 2 minutesArjun Aryal (with hat) shows Windward CC students how to use ground-penetrating radar A $645,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[72085,72075,24,72086,72084,25,72076,1085,3795,372,72077,72080,2683,32580,32579,32578,72082,32583,248,258,72072,72083,1785,6043,12605,32582,72081,72087,1684,160,72078,1282,134,72079,14687,32585,251,228,32586,227,32584,72073,253,72074,261],"class_list":["post-146757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-aaron-hanai","tag-advanced-technological-education","tag-ai","tag-annual-symposium","tag-arjun-aryal","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-community-college","tag-data-science","tag-educators","tag-engineering","tag-faculty-capacity","tag-faculty-cohorts","tag-hawaii","tag-hawaii-college","tag-hawaii-higher-education","tag-hawaii-university","tag-institute-for-future-intelligence","tag-island-college","tag-kapiolani-cc","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kcc","tag-local-ai-experts","tag-math","tag-mentorship","tag-national-science-foundation","tag-oahu-college","tag-online-coursework","tag-open-educational-resources","tag-professional-development","tag-science","tag-skilled-technical-workforce","tag-stem","tag-technology","tag-technology-driven-economy","tag-uh","tag-uh-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-system","tag-uhcc","tag-university-of-hawaii","tag-university-of-hawaii-community-college","tag-wcc","tag-windward-cc","tag-windward-college","tag-windward-community-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}