Who We Are
The CHAI Center in the ECE Department is established to serve as a strategic research and education center, fostering innovation, industry collaboration, and workforce development in the fast-growing field of AI/ML. By focusing on the practical transition of AI solutions into field-deployable products, the Center will address both current and future demands for intelligent embedded systems and edge AI devices.
What We Do
Enable hardware-software co-design for practical AI deployment
Develop AI solutions optimized for resource-constrained environments
Translate AI research into commercially and socially impactful applications
Educate and train the next generation of ECE engineers
The Center’s research thrust areas include, but are not limited to: AI lightweight models and model compression for hardware deployment, hardware–software AI co-design, AI acceleration on embedded processors such as CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, and FPGAs, Edge AI and embedded
intelligence, and practical AI solutions for various sensing, information processing, and vision applications.
Industry Engagement
A core priority of the CHAI Center is to attract and engage industry partners seeking to deploy AI solutions on hardware platforms. Through joint research projects, sponsored programs, and prototype development, the Center intends to accelerate the transition of university research into industry deployment. Benefits to industry members include:
- Direct collaboration with faculty on AI-to-hardware challenges
- Early access to prototypes, benchmarks, and research outcomes
- Engagement with highly trained students for recruitment
- Participation in technical and roadmap discussions
- Opportunities for IP generation, licensing, and technology transfer