Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that Stony Brook University will be receiving a three-year investment of $5 million to fund artificial intelligence (AI) advancements on campus. These funds will go to redesigning the Department of Technology and Society by establishing a new department called the Department of Technology, AI and Society within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS). As part of this transformation, the investment will allow faculty hiring, internship opportunities and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.
Klaus Mueller, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and the acting chair of the Department of Technology and Society, spoke about the importance of this investment.
“This investment is a huge step forward for all of these entities. It brings new prominence to the Department of Technology and Society and carries it into a new era. For [CEAS], it secures a vital dimension of engineering and applied sciences — the societal aspects of AI,” Mueller said.
He also noted how this funding is a sign of Stony Brook’s commitment to shaping the future of AI in a responsible and inclusive way.
“For the University, it’s a catalyst for building the infrastructure and expertise needed to lead in AI — not just the technology itself, but also how it impacts society,” Mueller said. He also explained how the Department of Technology, AI and Society will be established in a way that affirms Stony Brook’s position as a leader in AI.
With support from the AI Innovation Institute (AI3), this new department will build upon the expertise of the existing Department of Technology and Society and will apply AI to address challenges in the environment, medicine, technology and art.
Mueller went on to explain the specific AI-driven work he has been focusing on for several years.
“I’ve focused on developing methods that empower humans through AI and, just as importantly, using AI to better understand human behavior, values and choices. This dual focus — on both advancing AI and reflecting on its societal role — is exactly the kind of work that’s taking root at Stony Brook,” he said.
Mueller shared how he and his team research the underlying biases ingrained into AI, since it’s programmed by humans. He explained that applying AI algorithms in fields such as hiring employees, healthcare and law enforcement technology raise concerns about the fairness of AI algorithms.
To counter this problem, his team has developed D-BIAS, a visual interactive tool that embodies a human-involvement AI approach for detecting social biases from datasets.
“I’ve seen the importance of AI at Stony Brook firsthand through my own research and my affiliation with the AI Institute,” Mueller said. “AI is playing a central role in how we tackle complex problems — from healthcare and climate change to fairness in decision-making.”
Mueller emphasized his eager anticipation to watch how the investment positions Stony Brook to take a leadership role in AI and help shape its societal impact.
“[This investment] puts Stony Brook in a position to lead — not just in advancing AI technology, but in shaping how AI serves society, building on the university’s strengths across both engineering and non-engineering fields. It gives us the momentum to build something truly interdisciplinary, where engineers, scientists and social thinkers will work together to ensure AI benefits everyone,” Mueller said.
Andrew C. Singer, the dean of the CEAS, discussed the development and importance of the Department of Technology, AI and Society.
“This investment will empower Stony Brook to further solidify and expand its leadership role in [AI]. The new Department of Technology, AI and Society … will offer programs to prepare students to engage with the transformative potential of AI,” he said.
The Department of Technology, AI and Society will also work with existing institutes such as AI3 and the Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences (IACS).
Singer discussed how this new department will work to cover the wide-ranging impacts of AI.
“Through interdisciplinary research, public engagement and collaboration across the university and with external partners, the department will take an expansive approach to artificial intelligence and its ethical, just applications,” he explained.
Singer highlighted Governor Hochul’s role in making this possible and discussed the investment’s potential impact.
“The recent announcement from Governor Hochul’s office provides the resources to not only build an outstanding program for our existing students, but also to create programs for learning and research that make Stony Brook a destination university for students and faculty from across the country,” he said.
Executive Vice President and Provost Carl Lejuez explained how AI is transforming society and how Stony Brook demonstrates their support of its expansion in an email to The Statesman.
“[AI] is transforming our society,” he wrote. “Faculty across disciplines are exploring AI as a tool to help them advance knowledge and research — in the arts, the humanities, social sciences, engineering, climate research, and medicine. They are exploring how it can be applied effectively and in meaningful ways, in classrooms and pedagogy to support student learning.”
Lejuez also explained that he is most looking forward to how this investment offers additional space to students to exercise their creativity.
“The most exciting aspect of this investment is that it gives our faculty and students the space and the support to be creative. Traditional academic silos [where academic departments pursue their work independently of the others] aren’t going to be enough to truly understand AI and the role it can and should play in our future. This funding gives our faculty the time to innovate and build something that will help them collaborate on new partnerships and ideas, and gives our students one more way to engage and explore this rapidly developing technology,” Lejuez wrote.
