Iowa State University
IA · AI Readiness #76 of 227
AIREDEX™ Score: 7.8 /10
Two federally funded AI institutes, AIIRA and TrAC, anchor Iowa State's research profile, with undergraduates able to pick from two AI minors open to every major on campus.
Both AI minors require a philosophy course built around AI ethics, and the AI Innovation Studio gives students walk-in access to ChatGPT and other paid tools at no cost. On the funding side, AIIRA carries a $20 million NSF price tag and TrAC draws more than 70 affiliated faculty across colleges. What's thinner is governance: a 2024 guidance committee wrapped up its work without becoming a permanent body, and no administrator owns AI strategy for the whole campus. That leaves Iowa State with strong research bones but a governance structure that hasn't caught up, roughly where you'd expect a Big 12 land-grant school at this stage.
Pillar grades
- Commitment: C+
- Curriculum: A
- Partnerships: B-
- Research: B+
A(I)ttitude™: progressive
Selected Highlights
- TrAC has 70+ affiliated faculty spanning seven colleges, named director Dr. Soumik Sarkar, and is a member of NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC).
- AIIRA is an active NSF National AI Research Institute ($20M, through August 2028) led by ISU as the primary institution.
- Murray G. Bacon Center for AI Ethics in Business launched March 2026 with named director Professor Mike Howard; LAS Trusted Innovation in AI initiative also active.
- Two distinct undergraduate AI minors (AI Minor and Applied AI Minor) confirmed in 2026-27 catalog, both open to all majors university-wide.
- PHIL 3430 Ethics of Computing and AI is a required core course in both undergraduate AI minors and is available to all majors; AI 2020 and PHIL 5430X also confirmed.