RIT's Ke Xu Wins 5-Year NSF CAREER Award for Edge AI Research

1 articles · Updated · Rochester Institute of Technology · May 18

Ke Xu, an assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, received an NSF CAREER Award to advance edge computing for AI—technology that processes data near devices instead of routing every request to the cloud.
5-year CAREER grants back early-career faculty whose projects combine research and education, and Xu said the work aims to deliver real-time decisions on compact devices within tight energy budgets.
Edge AI could keep wearable health monitors, autonomous sensors and robots operating when cloud connections fail, while also reducing dependence on remote data centers.
Data centers consume large amounts of electricity, water and land for cooling and operations; Xu argues more local processing can cut energy use, heat generation and heavy-duty cooling needs.
Students are built into the project under NSF rules, with undergraduate and graduate researchers from physics, materials science, and electrical and computer engineering joining the interdisciplinary effort.

As AI leaves the cloud for our devices, are we trading data center energy costs for unforeseen privacy risks?

Can brain-inspired chips make AI sustainable, or will billions of smart devices create a new environmental crisis?

When autonomous edge AI makes a life-or-death decision, who is ultimately held responsible without a central server log?