{"id":154319,"date":"2026-02-13T13:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154319\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:18:08","slug":"hillsborough-college-secures-250000-in-federal-funding-for-new-ai-innovation-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154319\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough College secures $250,000 in federal funding for new AI Innovation Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The funding was secured with the support of U.S. Representative Kathy Castor.<\/p>\n<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Hillsborough College has received $250,000 in federal community project funding to launch an Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center to prepare students for technology\u2011driven careers in the Tampa Bay region.<\/p>\n<p>The funding was secured with the support of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.<\/p>\n<p>College officials say the new center will expand access to artificial intelligence education, enhance classroom technology and help strengthen the region\u2019s growing talent pipeline. Tampa Bay, ranked by Commercial Caf\u00e9 as Florida\u2019s third\u2011best tech hub and 18th nationwide, has been rapidly developing as a center for innovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Artificial intelligence is also a key priority in the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council\u2019s &#8220;Future Ready: Tampa Bay&#8221; strategic plan, which identifies AI as central to the area\u2019s long\u2011term economic competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are very thankful to Congresswoman Kathy Castor for her unwavering support of Hillsborough College,\u201d Dr. Ken Atwater, the college\u2019s president, said. \u201cThis funding represents a significant investment in our students and educators as we expand our artificial intelligence education and workforce preparation through the implementation of the Innovation Center.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leaders at Hillsborough College say the investment directly aligns with regional workforce goals, particularly in technology, defense, healthcare, and financial services \u2014 industries increasingly shaped by AI\u2011driven tools and processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The funding was secured with the support of U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Hillsborough College has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-154319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}