Mission and Goals

The mission of CAFE is to accelerate advances in AI to solve complex problems in engineering systems at scale. CAFE’s holistic approach will promote interactions between researchers developing foundational AI technologies and those who apply these technologies in a variety of fields, primarily focused on engineered systems. CAFE’s goals include:

Accelerating foundational advances in AI theory and algorithms.
Scaling the impact of AI across multiple science and engineering disciplines.
Establishing a common foundation that enables decentralized innovation for new challenges and rapid response to emerging needs.
Evolving partnerships with industry, national labs, government agencies, and other academic partners for rapid technology transition and broad societal impact.
Cultivating a leading AI workforce through curricular development.
Developing K-12 and public outreach efforts to promote AI awareness.

About

The Center for Artificial Intelligence Foundations and Engineered Systems (CAFE), pronounced café, brings together expertise from 75 researchers representing 24 academic units across Penn State with the goal of developing cross-disciplinary interactions. The center’s focus is on accelerating advances by synergistically advancing AI foundations and the techniques to deploy them efficiently toward applications focused on engineered and defense systems. CAFE provides opportunities for research partnerships, faculty/student recruitment, and technology transition to practice.