NYU president Linda Mills and Kwang-Hyung Lee, the president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, met at a conference in Seoul earlier this month to sign a memo, creating a joint degree graduate program in artificial intelligence.
The program includes 12 research groups, led by two faculty members — one from NYU and another from KAIST. In the press release, Lee said the program will allow students at both institutions to “innovatively apply and develop AI” in their areas of expertise.
“AI technology can play a significant role in addressing various social challenges such as climate change, health care and education inequality,” Mills said in a press release. “The global talent cultivated through our two schools will also go on to make innovative contributions to solving these social problems.”
Former NYU president Andrew Hamilton, Mayor Eric Adams and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol announced the NYU-KAIST partnership in September 2022. The universities — whose partnership began with an exchange student program — announced plans to have a joint New York City campus by 2025.
Courant graduate student Mahi Shafiullah, who has experience with AI, commended NYU for its joint program with KAIST in an interview with WSN, and encouraged the university to continue these types of partnerships with institutions in other countries.
“Just by opening this door, having this option to pursue your research in a place where there [are] more resources increases the efficiency of the overall system,” Shafiullah said. “Anytime I see a program like this, I think it’s amazing.”
Contact Gabrielle Panelo at [email protected].