����vlog����

The Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies will ensure South Dakota State University's graduates are ready to lead in an AI-driven world.

From health care to agriculture to education, artificial intelligence is reshaping the modern world, and college graduates must have the skills, knowledge and tools to meet the challenges and demands AI presents across nearly every industry.

To ensure its graduates are ready to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven world, South Dakota State University has announced the establishment of the Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies.

"AI is rapidly transforming our world, and we must ensure that South Dakotans are not just observers of the AI revolution, but active builders and beneficiaries of it," SDSU President Barry Dunn said. "The newly established center will be critical for AI collaboration across campus and will focus on preparing students to not only to be proficient with these tools but to use them ethically — mindful of the impact this technology has on our state, region and world."

Generative AI use in education and across industries will continue to require increasing and intense human oversight. Generative AI's ability to produce essays, computer code and large amounts of information instantly means that high-level critical-thinking and problem-solving will be in-demand skills that SDSU students will receive through the interdisciplinary AI literacy and competency programming initiated and sponsored by the new center.

To establish the center and address challenges related to AI, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds has secured $750,000 in federal appropriations under the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill.

“South Dakota State University’s newly established Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies comes at a critical time for AI development in the United States,” Rounds said. “SDSU’s leadership team understands that AI is critical for the future. They’re committed to teaching their students to harness the power of AI rather than run from it. I look forward to working with the university to shape the use of AI in South Dakota.”

The creation of the center will allow SDSU to integrate generative AI literacy and competency initiatives across the university's curriculum. This future-focused investment will not only advance the university's land-grant mission but will also produce AI-proficient graduates with the cutting-edge skills needed to lead in the future workforce transformation.

By blending AI literacy initiatives into the full educational mission — from teaching to research to community engagement — the center will ensure students, faculty, staff and community partners develop the competencies to work ethically and creatively with generative AI and other emerging technologies.

"Producing generative AI-literate SDSU graduates will affirm South Dakota's image as a place of technological innovation and growth," said Victor Taylor, vice provost for graduate education and extended studies and a co-executive director for the center. "At SDSU, we have continuously prepared students to meet the challenges of their time. This initiative is our commitment to prepare students for an AI-driven world."

SDSU's research, innovation, scholarship and creative activity will also be elevated through the strategic and ethical integration of AI. The center will serve as a hub where interdisciplinary AI-based research groups tackle pressing challenges in agriculture, climate resilience, rural health and community development.

"When national directives (such as the Genesis mission, for example) aim to double U.S. research productivity through AI, and companies like Anthropic are extending resources to accelerate scientific breakthroughs, the message is clear: research is the multiplier that determines whether we lead or follow," said Rajesh Kavasseri, associate dean for research for the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering and a co-executive director for the center. "As co-executive director of SDSU's Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies, I'll be building a new operating system for discovery with AI as the force multiplier: pairing our scientists and thinkers with intelligent systems that shorten the discovery cycle and extend the impact."

Universities have always been where breakthroughs begin, but the pace of discovery is shifting. AI will not replace the intellectual curiosity that drives a faculty member or the wonder that draws a student into a lab; it elevates and amplifies both. Institutions that weave AI into their campus now will produce the scholars, workforce and solutions that define the next generation.

Visit the Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies webpage for more information.

To view a video of Sen. Rounds' remarks shown at the Innovate AI 2026 Symposium in Sioux Falls on Friday, go to .