The Peru Gazette

August 1, 2025 – Governor Kathy Hochul announced the first Empire AI supercomputer projects from the University at Albany. Stemming from a partnership between UAlbany’s world-renowned RNA Institute and their partners at the University of Rochester, the newest member of the Governor’s Empire AI Consortium, researchers will now have access to New York State’s Empire AI supercomputer housed at the University at Buffalo.

“Empire AI is an incredible tool that allows us to harness the power of technology and innovation to change lives for the better,” Governor Hochul said. “By bringing together researchers from UAlbany and the University of Rochester and the power of Empire AI, we are paving the way to unlocking treatments for devastating diseases. This is not just research, it’s proof that New York is building a brighter and healthier future for everyone.”

The UAlbany work is the latest in a series of research projects that are up and running at the first “Alpha” phase of the Empire AI computing center. UAlbany researchers will work with UR colleagues to use computer vision and AI to analyze the recorded movements of patients with neuromuscular diseases like myotonic dystrophy (DM), the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. Researchers hope to use the Empire AI system to develop innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like DM, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and spinocerebellar ataxias.

The work will be funded by approximately $230,000 in matching grants from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to UAlbany and UR, along with more than $2 million from the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Defense.

Empire AI is now backed by more than $500 million in public and private funding and is made up of 10 member universities and research institutions. Governor Hochul secured funding in May to expand access for SUNY researchers at UAlbany, Binghamton University, the University at Buffalo (which houses Empire AI), and Stony Brook University, and support the addition of new members including the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. They join the seven founding members of Empire AI, SUNY, CUNY, Columbia University, Cornell University, NYU, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Flatiron Institute. Empire AI is the Governor’s nation-leading initiative to advance AI research for the public good, led by an independent consortium of members and Empire State Development.