{"id":148744,"date":"2025-09-17T02:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T02:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148744\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T02:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T02:17:07","slug":"unl-launches-ai-makerspace-in-partnership-with-scott-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/148744\/","title":{"rendered":"UNL launches AI makerspace in partnership with Scott Data"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln\u2019s College of Engineering has launched a new AI makerspace, supported by private funding and in partnership with Omaha-based Scott Data<\/a>, providing students with access to advanced computing resources rarely found in higher education.<\/p>\n

The facility, part of Kiewit Hall\u2019s Design Hub, includes a dedicated server with eight NVIDIA H100 graphics processing units, considered the gold standard for AI workloads. The makerspace will be one of only a handful of such facilities tied to universities nationwide, and the first in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe College of Engineering has a long history in research and education in artificial intelligence, and the AI makerspace is the next step in that effort,\u201d said Lance C. P\u00e9rez, Fred Hunzeker Dean of Engineering.<\/p>\n

Engineering legacy and new ambitions<\/p>\n

The College of Engineering has been a leader in Nebraska\u2019s higher education landscape since the mid-1980s, when it first offered a course in artificial intelligence. In the past five years, the college has delivered more than 30 sections of AI classes.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said the makerspace reflects the college\u2019s belief that students learn best by doing. \u201cEvery student will leave the College of Engineering with some exposure and knowledge about AI. Both through formal curriculum and through opportunities like this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want every one of the students in our college, regardless of discipline, to understand how AI fits into the kind of work their discipline does, and be prepared to go out into the workforce being AI-ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

To build on that effort, the college also plans to add a chief data scientist with expertise in engineering, AI and startups to help guide research and mentor students.<\/p>\n

Scott Data, headquartered in Omaha, is one of about 20 Tier III certified colocation data centers in the country \u2014 and the only Tier III data center that provides the AI Cluster GPU-as-a-Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in Nebraska, and we\u2019re on the University of Nebraska campus. I serve on the engineering advisory board for Dean P\u00e9rez,\u201d said Ken Moreano, CEO of Scott Data. \u201cWe are ahead of the market as a colocation operator, deploying our own AI GPU infrastructure. We\u2019ve built an AI cluster on par with AWS, Google or Oracle, but unlike those providers, we don\u2019t train models or touch the data. We can audit and prove the privacy and security of the data for any organization on our system.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the makerspace offers<\/p>\n

The AI makerspace is the newest addition to Kiewit Hall\u2019s Design Hub, where engineering students design, build and test projects. Unlike a traditional lab, it functions as a \u201cvirtual makerspace,\u201d with students remotely connecting to Scott Data\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n

At its core are eight NVIDIA H100 GPUs, processors considered the gold standard for handling the demanding workloads required to train and run AI models. \u201cAs far as we know, this is not something typically available in higher education,\u201d Moreano said. \u201cIt will accelerate students\u2019 abilities to problem solve, conduct research and increase creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students will be able to use the makerspace for independent projects, capstone design work and activities organized through student groups such as Husker AI. Faculty also expect it to spark interdisciplinary collaborations, connecting engineering students with peers in health care, agriculture and business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting to me is the innovation and creativity young people will demonstrate on the platform,\u201d Moreano said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair to have a preconceived project in mind, because that would introduce bias and limit creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez added that he expects students to embrace the makerspace well beyond formal assignments. \u201cWe really expect students to have very large interests in doing this on their own time for fun, and learning on their own,\u201d he said. \u201cOur students do a lot of that already.\u201d<\/p>\n

National context: Following Georgia Tech\u2019s lead<\/p>\n

UNL is not the only institution to launch such a space. Georgia Tech created an AI Makerspace<\/a> in collaboration with NVIDIA in 2024, giving students access to supercomputing resources and curriculum supported by the company\u2019s Deep Learning Institute. College leaders there described it as a \u201cdigital sandbox\u201d where undergraduates could experiment with AI in ways previously restricted to research labs.<\/p>\n

UNL\u2019s makerspace is smaller in scale \u2014 Georgia Tech\u2019s cluster includes 160 NVIDIA H100 GPUs \u2014 but unique in its public-private partnership model and its presence in the Midwest. By leveraging Scott Data\u2019s infrastructure, UNL hopes to democratize access for its students while keeping costs manageable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this model, whether it\u2019s the AI maker space or another version of that type of partnership, will likely grow,\u201d Moreano said. \u201cBut Nebraska College of Engineering \u2026 is first, which we\u2019ve said should always be first.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the OPEX, or operational expense, model makes the approach especially appealing. \u201cA university can use what it needs at any given time without having to buy the equipment up front, which is very expensive,\u201d Moreano said. \u201cThat approach resonates with a number of institutions, and we\u2019re already in discussions with universities in California and the Southwest. I think this type of makerspace model will likely expand because it gives schools more runway to invest in research and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparing students and the workforce<\/p>\n

Both P\u00e9rez and Moreano emphasized that the makerspace is not just about technology, but about preparing students for a rapidly changing job market.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur primary goal is to expand our educational programs and research to ensure the next generation of the Nebraska workforce in engineering, computing and construction is AI-ready,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cWhat I really want to see is, in three to five years, us being recognized as a leader in AI and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreano echoed that vision, pointing to industries that matter to Nebraska. \u201cAI is already transforming health care, agriculture, finance and media,\u201d he said. \u201cThe workforce is changing, and the question is: Can we arm the future workforce that\u2019s coming through our university system with knowledge, expertise and context around infrastructure all the way to deployment of use cases and workloads?\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said ethical considerations will also be central to the makerspace, giving students a chance to think about how AI should be used, not just how it works. \u201cWe will use this as a learning opportunity for ethical uses of AI,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Measuring success<\/p>\n

The AI makerspace is still in the beginning phases. But, in the short term, success will be measured by the number of students and faculty who adopt the makerspace and how it becomes integrated into coursework.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over time, both leaders said, the goal is to see outcomes such as new research projects, interdisciplinary collaborations and graduates entering the workforce with practical AI skills. Moreano added that access to advanced infrastructure could also help UNL compete for top research grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cA measure of success would be adoption and utilization,\u201d Moreano said. \u201cWe want to see a large population from the university leveraging and utilizing. If they are active \u2026 there will be outcomes that we can look at and identify and be able to measure. But the exposure is the first component of an initial milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n

For P\u00e9rez, the makerspace represents a continuation of the college\u2019s long trajectory in AI. \u201cWe have a 30-year history in AI,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us, this is just another evolution, like when the computer came out. We think we\u2019re really well positioned in Nebraska, because of partners like Scott Data, to become that leader.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln\u2019s College of Engineering has launched a new AI makerspace, supported by private funding and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[256,254,64,63,257,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-148744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-computing","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}