More than 200 researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) launched over 80 projects in the first year of a shared AI platform. Google Public Sector, Google’s government-focused cloud business, detailed the results in an announcement and accompanying customer case study.
The SUNY AI Platform gives researchers a common portal to Gemini Enterprise, more than 200 AI models and computing capacity through Google Cloud. Researchers can sign in using existing university credentials and request cloud workspaces without configuring the underlying infrastructure themselves.
Access is still limited to nine of SUNY’s 64 campuses. The rollout began at three research campuses before expanding to six more doctoral-granting institutions. The shared system is designed to spare individual research teams from assembling their own AI tools and cloud resources, while giving SUNY a common way to manage access.
SUNY also wanted to reduce reliance on unvetted commercial AI tools. Catherine Stollar Peters, its director of research data strategy, said researchers who put their data or ideas into such tools could jeopardize their ability to move that work through the university’s technology transfer process. “Researchers need control of their intellectual property,” she said.
Regulated data comes later
The platform’s first phase used only public data and information not subject to additional regulations, the case study said. SUNY plans to expand the platform to support sensitive research data, including protected health information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and information subject to requirements associated with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.
Before that expansion, SUNY plans to establish the necessary audit trails, security protocols and compliance controls. Google did not disclose when the additional data would be admitted or how the safeguards would operate across participating campuses.
Reported gains lack methodological detail
Within the initial rollout, Google’s case study said 70% of researchers strengthened their position for grants and proposals, 67% achieved significant research acceleration and time savings, and 60% completed a major component of their core research. Stollar Peters said some researchers finished work in hours that previously took days.
The case study does not say how many researchers were included in the percentage calculations, how the outcomes were measured or whether the reported time savings were independently verified. It also provides no figures on how many grant proposals ultimately secured funding.
SUNY lists GrantAI among the platform’s applications to help researchers identify collaborators and prepare initial grant proposals. The university plans to extend access beyond the first nine campuses.