South Dakota State University established the Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies in spring 2026 with $750,000 in federal appropriations secured by U.S. Senator Mike Rounds under the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill. The center serves as a hub for integrating AI literacy and competency initiatives across SDSU’s curriculum, research, teaching, and community engagement.
The center is led by executive directors Victor Taylor (Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Extended Studies) and Rajesh Kavasseri (Professor and Associate Dean for Research). The center’s research focus includes applications in agriculture, climate resilience, rural health, and community development. The center works to embed AI literacy across the university’s full educational mission from teaching to research to extension.
However, this initiative is limited to higher education and does not directly establish K-12 AI literacy mandates, teacher training requirements, or curriculum standards. It represents institutional capacity-building at the university level rather than state-level K-12 policy.
Scoring note: Dimension 13 (free/public resources) scores 1 for federally-funded AI literacy center providing resources for workforce and community engagement. Dimension 5 (dedicated funding) scores 1 for the $750K federal appropriation, though higher education focused rather than K-12.