Universities are using advanced technology on campus.
Universities are often some of the first places to adopt new technological advancements, and access to the latest technology can enhance the college experience for students.
While schools with a reputation for strong science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known collectively as STEM, programs are typically the most high-tech, other universities have also embraced new technology to adapt to the changing needs of students and the job market.
“We now have come to see that this is our mission,” says Raghupathy Sivakumar, vice president of commercialization and chief commercialization officer for Georgia Institute of Technology. “We need to bring these technologies into the university so that when (students) go out, they are used to these innovations and technologies.”
Whether it’s in classrooms, laboratories, research centers or other campus spaces, here are 10 universities that provide students with high-tech features and programs to help improve functionality and inspire innovation.
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is using modern technology to help make its campus more functional and energy-efficient. Recently, the school installed smart devices in four locations on campus that include sunlight and temperature sensors, carbon dioxide detectors and particulate counters. Ranked No. 1 in the 2022-2023 U.S. News list of Most Innovative Schools, ASU plans to use the data to learn how to make the campus safer and more environmentally friendly. With an eye on becoming “climate positive” and a more sustainable university, ASU is working to make all university vehicles electric, with charging stations across campus and wireless technology used to track the vehicles and transmit data through the cloud. ASU also developed solar-powered golf cart trackers, which are used to help locate carts designed specifically for students with disabilities.
California Institute of Technology
Technology and scientific innovation run deep throughout the state of California, especially in Pasadena, where the California Institute of Technology is located. There are over 300 technology companies based in Pasadena, according to the city’s website, and at the center of the region’s innovative spirit is Caltech, which attracts some of the most promising young entrepreneurs and scientists. Ranked No. 9 on U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, Caltech is home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where researchers use advanced robotics to study the solar system, earth’s atmosphere and parts of space still relatively unknown to humans. Students also conduct research in the lab and have the opportunity to participate in a variety of programs there. Students at Caltech can also study at the Resnick Sustainability Institute, where students research climate change and methods to develop sustainable energy. Caltech students develop so many inventions that the school created a department to help them navigate patenting their products and taking them to market.
Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
The No. 3 ranked school on U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania is intentional about equipping students with the latest technology to conduct research, especially in robotics. In the fall of 2023, the school will launch the Academic Cloud Lab, a remote-controlled, fully functional lab where researchers conduct experiments by using lines of code to generate operations, which are sometimes performed by robots and other times by humans. Data is then returned to the researchers, typically within a day. It’s the world’s first academic cloud lab, according to the school’s website. Also located on campus is Moonshot Mission Control, a new command center in the School of Computer Science’s Gates Center for Computer Science, where students will control a student-made nano rover, named Iris, that will be traveling to the moon on the United Launch Alliance rocket in the fall of 2023.
Colorado School of Mines
Located in Golden, just outside of Denver, Colorado School of Mines is tied for No. 20 on U.S. News’ List of Most Innovative Schools. One of its main features for science- and technology-minded students is the Mines Interactive Robotics Research (MIRROR) Lab, where students blend “artificial intelligence, cognitive science and human-robot interaction with robotic and augmented reality technologies,” according to the school’s website. A variety of research and testing goes on in the MIRROR Lab, like studying how robots can handle various social norms, how they adapt their moral reasoning and ethics in various contexts and other communication settings. The lab is primarily for computer science research for both undergraduate and graduate students, but it often has testing where anyone at the university can sign up to interact with the robots.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Located in the heart of Atlanta and ranked No. 8 on U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, Georgia Institute of Technology attracts some of the brightest technology- and entrepreneurial-minded students. With initiatives like CREATE-X, a start-up incubator, and spaces for students to develop and test prototypes of their inventions like the Hive Makerspace and the student-run Flowers Invention Studio, the campus has become a creative playground for these young innovators. Open to all students regardless of major, the Invention Studio is where students can develop prototypes of products, from electronics to metal working. A highlight each year is the Inventure Prize, for which six teams demonstrate products they created for judges with a business background. The event, which Sivakumar says is like “‘American Idol’ for engineers,” is broadcast on local public television.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University ranks No. 2 in U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, and the heart of the school’s spirit is the university library. The crown jewel of the library is the Collaborative University Research and Visualization Environment (CURVE), a technology-rich research and study space available for all students for a variety of purposes. CURVE’s centerpiece technology, the interactWall, is a 24-foot wide touch screen designed for visual and data-centered research projects. CURVE also includes seven other work stations, including a 4K work station, available for faculty and students to work with large images and data sets. Each work station provides access to a variety of specialty software packages to fit users’ data or research needs.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Maker culture” permeates the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where students work in collaborative settings to innovate and create. Ranked No. 4 on U.S. News’ List of Most Innovative Schools, MIT has renovated two residence halls and opened another that together offer substantial dedicated maker spaces. One of those, at the East Campus undergraduate residence hall, was relocated to a courtyard where students build forts, wooden rollercoasters and other projects. But MIT’s signature maker space may be the Hobby Shop, which opened in 1938, and has been a launching pad for generations of MIT students, faculty, staff and alumni in their entrepreneurial pursuits. The school is also renovating the Stratton Student Center, located close to the center of campus, which will include expanded shared work spaces outfitted with the latest technology and dedicated areas for dance activities and well-being programming, including a new well-being lab.
Purdue University (IN)
A hub for aspiring engineers and No. 7 on U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, Purdue University in Indiana is also working to establish itself as a leader in semiconductor research and preparing students for work in the industry. Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as microchips, are critical to any technological device, powering and connecting everything from vehicles to computers. In 2022, the school announced the nation’s first Semiconductor Degrees Program — a set of interdisciplinary degrees and credentials in semiconductors and microelectronics, according to the school’s website. The school’s Discovery Park District is a 400-acre “launch pad” where businesses can conduct product research and development, work with experts in various fields and attract students for employment. Among the facility’s innovation efforts is the upcoming Hypersonic Ground Test Center, a “a first-of-its-kind test facility” where aspiring aerospace professionals will be able to research hypersonic vehicles, which travel five times faster than the speed of light.
University of Florida
Digital media has become part of everyday life for most people, and artificial intelligence appears to be on its way to the same reality. In an attempt to prepare students for such a world, the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications launched the Atlas Lab in May 2023. Powered by “sophisticated, AI-driven digital media analysis tools,” the lab provides students an experience with data analytics and new insights about the industry. The classroom where the technology is located is outfitted with 46 monitors that can be configured to fit the users’ needs and show data dashboards, live television and faculty presentations, according to the school’s website.
Another on-campus tech feature is the driving simulator in the Human Systems Engineering Lab, where students research a variety of transportation issues, like road safety and autonomous vehicles. And in late 2023, the university will launch a “virtual traffic stop” app in partnership with the campus police, allowing officers to conduct traffic stops through video to help students feel safer.
University of Texas at Austin
Austin has seen a tech boom over the last decade, earning it the nickname “Silicon Hills,” and the University of Texas at Austin has been a significant contributor. Inventionworks, the on-campus maker studio, offers dozens of courses through the Cockrell School of Engineering ranging from biomedical engineering to robot mechanism design. The studio is located in the National Instruments Student Project Center, a 23,000-square-foot space for designing and building everything from solar cars and satellites to robots and biomedical sensors, according to the school’s website. Ranked No. 14 in U.S. News’ list of Most Innovative Schools, the school is also renowned for its astronomy research and provides students with top-of-the-line facilities such as the McDonald Observatory, which is open to the public and has programs for K-12 educators, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center.
Other Campus Resources
Learn more about college living by checking out the U.S. News guide to campus resources. Connect with U.S. News Education on Facebook and Twitter to get more advice on making the college decision.
High-Tech College Campuses
— Arizona State University
— California Institute of Technology
— Carnegie Mellon University
— Colorado School of Mines
— Georgia Institute of Technology
— Georgia State University
— Massachusetts Institute of Technology
— Purdue University
— University of Florida
— University of Texas at Austin
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10 High-Tech College Campuses originally appeared on usnews.com
