New College of AI, Cyber and Computing launched at UT San Antonio

The new college brings together academic programs in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, computing and data science.

2025-09-12

(Press-News.org) (SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS) -- The University of Texas at San Antonio launched the College of AI, Cyber and Computing on Sept. 1 bringing together academic programs in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, computing and data science.

The new college positions UT San Antonio at the forefront of technological education and research and brings the number of academic colleges at UT San Antonio to nine.

Formation of the college began during a multi-phase process in January 2024 with the announcement of a university-wide initiative to elevate the university’s leadership in emerging technologies. Shaped by input across campus and community partners, the effort included a dedicated task force, working groups and a public design charrette.

In December 2024, the university announced the full structure of the College of AI, Cyber and Computing, detailing its academic departments, degree programs and alignment with research centers.

“The launch of the College of AI, Cyber and Computing reflects our university’s long-standing commitment to advancing knowledge and growing the talent pipeline in critical areas that will advance economic development, grow the professional workforce and positively impact our community,” said UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy.

Real-world opportunities

The college includes four departments — Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems and Cybersecurity and Statistics and Data Science — and will be based at the Downtown Campus, operating in San Pedro I and, when complete in spring 2026, San Pedro II.

Situated in San Antonio’s urban core, the college provides students and faculty proximity to industry, government and community partners, supporting connections to real-world opportunities across the city.

More than 5,000 students will be served by the college, pursuing degrees in disciplines that are experiencing rapid growth.

National projections show jobs in these career fields increasing more than 30% by 2031, with over 770,000 roles currently unfilled across the country. Since 2019, UT San Antonio has seen a 31% increase in enrollment in AI, cyber and computing programs.

“Our programs are designed to create synergies across departments and give students new ways to explore their interests,” said Fred Martin, professor of computer science and interim dean of the new college. “Being located downtown makes it easier for faculty to collaborate, which helps spark innovation and expand research.”

Center for Data Science

Martin added that students will benefit from flexibility in their academic journey. “Students have the flexibility to discover the program that best fits their goals and move between disciplines while staying on track to graduate in four years,” he said.

The College of AI, Cyber and Computing builds on the foundation set by the School of Data Science, which has now transitioned to the Center for Data Science. Faculty have secured major grants, launched industry partnerships and led innovations in areas like generative artificial intelligence, quantum computing and healthcare analytics.

A $2 million gift from USAA will support the college through scholarships, a student success center and expanded research infrastructure. The investment reflects a shared commitment to building a strong talent pipeline and supporting San Antonio’s long-term growth.

As preparations continue for the first academic year, university leadership emphasized the long-term vision behind its formation and the impact it will have on students and the region.

“The College of AI, Cyber and Computing is an important step forward for UT San Antonio,” said Heather Shipley, provost and senior executive vice president for academic affairs. “This launch ushers in a new era of innovation and collaboration, giving our students the skills and experiences to lead in one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy and empowering them to shape the future of technology.”

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Collaborative team earns five-year renewal grant from NINDS to continue stroke research

2025-09-12

Stroke research aims to understand the brain’s self-protective and repair mechanisms. Gaining detailed insight into these mechanisms is crucial as such knowledge could lead to newly developed medications and interventions which mimic or engage the brain’s self-protective/repair mechanisms, leading to innovative stroke therapies. In 2018 the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a five-year, $2.9 million R01 grant (“Development ...

Vitamin K analogues may help transform the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

2025-09-12

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease are characterized by the progressive loss of neurons. The resulting debilitating symptoms, such as loss of memory and cognition, and motor impairment, can significantly degrade patients’ quality of life, confining them to round-the-clock care. While currently used drugs help alleviate symptoms, curative treatments are lacking, thus underscoring the need for novel therapeutic strategies. One such strategy involves the induction of neuronal differentiation, which can replenish lost neurons and ...

Cyclic triaxial tests: Evaluation of liquefaction resistance in chemically treated soils

2025-09-12

Soil liquefaction can be a major threat to the infrastructure and built environments in an earthquake-prone area. This happens due to substantial loss of soil stiffness and strength due to applied stress. Loose, moderately granulated, sandy soil is more prone to soil liquefaction. Recognizing the urgent need to enhance urban resilience in seismic-prone regions, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas vulnerable to such hazards, scientists are focusing on different mitigation techniques. Soil compaction technique ...

Uniting the light spectrum on a chip

2025-09-12

Focused laser-like light that covers a wide range of frequencies is highly desirable for many scientific studies and for many applications, for instance quality control of manufacturing semiconductor electronic chips. But creating such broadband and coherent light has been difficult to achieve with anything but bulky energy-hungry tabletop devices. Now, a Caltech team led by Alireza Marandi, a professor of electrical engineering and applied physics at Caltech, has created a tiny device capable of producing an unusually wide range of laser-light ...

Hundreds of new bacteria, and two potential antibiotics, found in soil

2025-09-12

Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab—and that’s been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil beneath our feet has a vast hidden reservoir of untapped lifesaving compounds. Now, researchers have developed a way to access this microbial goldmine. Their approach, published in Nature Biotechnology, circumvents the need to grow bacteria in the lab by extracting very large DNA fragments directly from soil to piece together the genomes of previously hidden microbes, and then mines resulting genomes for ...

Smells deceive the brain – are interpreted as taste

2025-09-12

Flavoured drinks without sugar can be perceived as sweet – and now researchers know why. A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Nature Communications, reveals that the brain interprets certain aromas as taste. When we eat or drink, we don’t just experience taste, but rather a ‘flavour’. This taste experience arises from a combination of taste and smell, where aromas from food reach the nose via the oral cavity, known as retronasal odour. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now shown that the brain integrates these signals earlier than previously thought – already in the insula, ...

New species survival commission fills critical gap in conservation

2025-09-12

A newly-formed group of scientists will be fighting for the survival of species — the smallest ones on the planet. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has launched a species survival commission for microbiology and microbes to serve as a global safeguard for microbial biodiversity and to pursue coordinated conservation action. The new Microbial Conservation Specialist Group marks a first in the history of international conservation and filling a critical gap in ...

New conservation committee led by Applied Microbiology International calls on science community to get on board with microbial conservation

2025-09-12

The team behind a new world-leading conservation committee headed by Applied Microbiology International (AMI) is calling on global scientific and conservation communities to get on board to protect microbial life. Members of the new IUCN Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG) have outlined its priorities for its first year and beyond in a paper published in Nature Microbiology. Earlier this year, global conservation leader, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially approved ...

Scientists uncover key stabilizing role of small molecules

2025-09-12

For decades, amino acids have been added to medical formulations like insulin as stabilizers: these small molecules keep proteins (i.e. larger particles) from interacting in undesirable ways. And for decades, scientists have known that this works – but not why. Now, an international team of scientists, led by the Supramolecular Nano-Materials and Interfaces Laboratory in EPFL’s School of Engineering, has finally explained the ‘why’ – and in the process, unearthed a fundamental stabilizing effect ...

“Black Hole Stars” could solve JWST riddle of overly massive early galaxies

2025-09-12

In the summer of 2022, less than a full month after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) had begun to produce its first scientific images, astronomers noticed something unexpected: little red dots. In pictures taken at JWST’s unprecedented sensitivity, these extremely compact, very red celestial objects showed very clearly on the sky and there appeared to be a considerable number of them. JWST had apparently discovered a whole new population of astronomical objects, which had eluded the Hubble Space Telescope. That latter part is unsurprising. “Very red” ...

New College of AI, Cyber and Computing launched at UT San Antonio

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: