UCR receives 8 million federal grants 2026-10-19 (web)
Citation
David Danelski, UC Riverside News. “UCR receives $8 million in federal grants.” News article, October 19, 2026. https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/10/19/ucr-receives-8-million-federal-grants. Read 2026-11-05.
Bottom line
- UC Riverside got two U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program grants. Mariam Salloum leads a $5 million project, LAUNCH, for AI education with six Southern California community colleges under RAISE@UCR. Kavan Hazeli of the AIM Hub leads a $3 million project to align engineering courses with industry needs.
- The seven LAUNCH institutions “serve approximately 100,000 students annually”. Faculty get summer workshops and stipends to build AI into their courses.
Background
A university news release. It describes the two grants, the partner colleges, the training model and quotes from the two project leads.
Key claims
- “UC Riverside has received $8 million in federal grants to help the Inland Empire become more proficient in artificial intelligence and better align engineering education with the needs of regional industries.” (lead)
- “The two grants, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education through its Strengthening Institutions Program, will support separate projects at UCR’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering” (lead)
- “Called Leveraging AI to Unlock New Career Horizons, or LAUNCH, the initiative brings together UCR and six community colleges: Riverside City College, Moreno Valley College, Norco College, College of the Desert, Copper Mountain College, and Rio Hondo College. Together, the institutions serve approximately 100,000 students annually.” (Expanding AI literacy)
- “At UCR, the collaboration will work under the umbrella of the interdisciplinary Riverside Artificial Intelligence Research and Education Institute (RAISE@UCR).” (Expanding AI literacy)
- “Faculty members and other college instructors across academic disciplines will be trained to incorporate AI effectively into their courses. They will attend summer workshops and receive stipends to develop courses that teach students how to use AI in their fields.” (Expanding AI literacy)
- “The five-year project will recruit 10 companies to help shape educational programs, including training for 15 to 20 master’s students and 15 to 20 senior engineering design projects.” (Syncing engineering education with industry)
Evidence and method
A news release from the grantee. Figures come from the university; the grant notices themselves are not linked.
Limits
No grant numbers or award dates. The article does not mention compute resources or CalCompute. The article spells the second lead’s name two ways (Hazel in a link, Hazeli in the text).