project:
  id: vanderbilt_institutional_strategy
  title: "Designing Conditions at Vanderbilt"
  status: public_case_study
  date: 2026-07
  public_url: "https://aimez.ai/institutions/"
  source_report: "Vanderbilt University: Institutional Strategy for Interdisciplinary AI, Design, and Cultural Production"

research_question: >-
  Which institutional operating systems could Vanderbilt build during the
  next three years by connecting assets that already exist?

central_observation: >-
  Vanderbilt has assembled substantial AI, computing, clinical, music,
  design, humanities and public-cultural capacity faster than it has built
  recurring mechanisms that connect those assets through shared projects.

institutional_thesis: >-
  The immediate opportunity is to install connective infrastructure:
  project-formation rules, mixed-team funding, residencies, shared production
  environments, credentials and evaluation systems that turn parallel assets
  into repeatable cross-domain work.

operating_system:
  sequence:
    - existing_research_and_cultural_assets
    - required_cross_domain_team_formation
    - shared_funding_space_and_production_support
    - public_artifact_and_research_output
    - evaluation_institutional_memory_and_next_project
  design_rule: >-
    Begin with a rule that changes who must work together and what they must
    make. Build permanent space only after the production cycle has been tested.

editorial_constraints:
  - one_page_one_pitch
  - one_paragraph_one_conceptual_role
  - one_sentence_one_inferential_movement
  - observation_before_abstraction
  - examples_as_evidence
  - no_oxford_commas
  - no_shell_sentences
  - no_consultant_language
  - no_unverified_program_claims
  - no_art_as_demonstration_surface

ranking:
  criteria:
    - institutional_fit
    - speed_to_pilot
    - research_value
    - student_value
    - public_visibility
    - funding_path
    - long_term_value
    - cost
  initiatives:
    - rank: 1
      id: joint_production_fund
      title: "VALIANT × Blair AI-Arts Joint Production Fund"
      initial_cost: 75000
      launch: spring_2027
    - rank: 2
      id: ai_arts_residency
      title: "AI-Arts Residency: VI4-AiR into VALIANT and Connected Computing"
      initial_cost: 50000
      launch: summer_2027
    - rank: 3
      id: bicoastal_fellowship
      title: "Nashville–San Francisco Bi-Coastal AI-Design Fellowship"
      initial_cost: 200000
      launch: fall_2026_virtual
    - rank: 4
      id: public_ai_lab
      title: "Public AI Lab: Nashville Cultural Institutions Partnership"
      initial_cost: 150000
      launch: spring_2027
    - rank: 5
      id: governance_center
      title: "Human-Centered AI Governance Center"
      initial_cost: 500000
      cost_period: 36_months_if_funded
      launch: fall_2026_working_group
    - rank: 6
      id: innovation_studio
      title: "Innovation Neighborhood Shared AI-Arts Production Studio"
      initial_cost_range: [5000000, 10000000]
      launch: 2027_temporary_space
    - rank: 7
      id: graduate_certificate
      title: "Graduate Certificate in AI, Design and Cultural Production"
      initial_cost: 100000
      launch: fall_2027

assets:
  college_of_connected_computing:
    capabilities: [computer_science, data_science, scientific_computing, ms_ai]
  valiant:
    evidence: "12 labs, 41 AI Fellows and 65 AI Scholars at April 2025 opening"
    capabilities: [ai_translation, immersive_ai, research_labs]
  amplify:
    capabilities: [generative_ai, human_centered_ai, agentic_ai]
  wondry:
    capabilities: [electrical_making, mechanical_making, fiber_arts, emerging_technology]
  cca_san_francisco:
    capabilities: [design, architecture, fine_arts, computational_arts, wattis_institute]
  innovation_neighborhood:
    evidence: "40-acre mixed-use development connected by The Meander"
  vi4_air:
    evidence: "119 artists, 71 scientists and more than 100 collaborations"
    capabilities: [residency_governance, science_art_pairing, evaluation]
  blair:
    capabilities: [music_cognition, music_technology, performance, composition]
  vumc_advance:
    capabilities: [clinical_ai_governance, ai_ethics, health_ai]
  curb_center:
    capabilities: [creative_inquiry, public_scholarship, visiting_artists]
  mcgee_center:
    capabilities: [narrative_research, media_literacy, algorithmic_narrative]
  frist:
    capabilities: [public_exhibitions, museum_education, ai_arts_programming]
  nmaam:
    capabilities: [african_american_music_research, cultural_partnership]
  vtna:
    evidence: "62,000 hours of television news footage"
    capabilities: [archives, ai_transcription, metadata_extraction]

initiatives:
  joint_production_fund:
    gap: >-
      Existing music-and-AI activity produces contact without a recurring rule
      that requires joint proposals and inspectable co-produced artifacts.
    pilot:
      duration_months: 12
      teams: 3
      grant_per_team: 25000
      composition_rule:
        - valiant_or_connected_computing_investigator
        - arts_or_humanities_investigator
        - producer_curator_or_technical_lead
      required_output_types: [software, installation, dataset, performance]
    pairings:
      - [valiant_audio_researcher, blair_composer, music_cognition_scientist]
      - [dsi_data_scientist, mcgee_narrative_scholar, art_faculty]
      - [amplify_team, eadj_artist, frist_curator]
    risks:
      - discussion_without_production
      - art_subordinated_to_ai_demonstration
    controls:
      - shared_principal_investigator_status
      - artifact_milestones
      - cross_field_evaluation

  ai_arts_residency:
    gap: >-
      AI labs have no tested Vanderbilt residency pathway that brings artistic
      inquiry into research before public presentation.
    pilot:
      residents: 3
      duration_weeks: 10
      stipend_per_resident: 10000
      host: valiant_labs
      support: [valiant_researcher, curb_public_scholar]
      exhibition_sites: [cohen_memorial_hall, ccc_ai_showcase]
    pairings:
      - [generative_music_artist, audio_ai_researcher]
      - [data_visualization_artist, dsi_scientist]
      - [documentary_filmmaker, mcgee_scholar, computer_vision_researcher]
    evaluation:
      - research_decisions_influenced
      - methods_transferred_in_both_directions
      - continuation_after_exhibition

  bicoastal_fellowship:
    gap: >-
      Nashville and San Francisco can remain administratively connected while
      lacking a project mechanism that makes researchers and designers jointly
      responsible for one output.
    pilot:
      phase_1:
        year: 2026_2027
        format: virtual
        pairs: 5
      phase_2:
        year: 2027_2028
        format: residential
        fellows: 10
        sequence: [nashville_semester, san_francisco_semester]
    pairings:
      - [valiant_researcher, cca_computational_artist]
      - [wondry_entrepreneur, cca_industrial_designer]
      - [dsi_scientist, cca_architect]
      - [blair_composer, bay_area_ai_music_technologist]
      - [vumc_engineer, cca_product_designer]
    governance:
      requirement: named_program_director_before_sf_opening
      reporting: provost_level

  public_ai_lab:
    gap: >-
      Cultural partnerships remain event-based or collection-specific and lack
      a recurring co-commissioning process with AI research teams.
    pilot:
      commissions:
        - partner: frist
          output: interactive_ai_exhibit
        - partner: nmaam
          output: african_american_music_archive_project
      administrative_home_options: [heard_libraries, curb_center]
      technical_lead_options: [dsi, connected_computing]
    partner_authority:
      - research_question
      - interpretation
      - community_access
      - collection_use_conditions

  governance_center:
    gap: >-
      Clinical AI, HCI, law, education and humanities governance work lacks a
      common appointment structure, funding program and operational policy path.
    pilot:
      start: fall_2026
      actions:
        - publish_joint_research_agenda
        - launch_public_case_seminar
        - prepare_neh_center_application
        - design_first_cross_domain_joint_appointment
      co_director_domains: [engineering, medicine, law, education]
    required_outputs:
      - empirical_research
      - governance_templates
      - policy_briefs
      - public_workshops
      - clinical_case_tools

  innovation_studio:
    gap: >-
      Teams must negotiate access across spaces governed for separate primary
      users because no neutral production environment belongs to the collaboration.
    pilot:
      temporary_space:
        year: 2027
        candidate_hosts: [wondry, engineering]
        evaluation: [demand, equipment_use, project_flow]
      permanent_space:
        target_year: 2029_2030
        size_sq_ft_range: [15000, 20000]
        capabilities:
          - creative_gpu_compute
          - computational_fabrication
          - recording_and_performance
          - flexible_exhibition
    governance:
      reporting: provost
      owner: cross_school_council
      independent_budget: true

  graduate_certificate:
    gap: >-
      Students can assemble relevant coursework across schools but receive no
      formal credential, complete-pathway advising or required public practicum.
    design:
      credits: 15
      administrative_home: college_of_connected_computing
      governance: cross_school_committee
      required_courses:
        - studio_in_ai
        - human_centered_design_for_ai
        - ai_and_cultural_production
        - public_ai_practicum
      pathway_requirements:
        - coursework_in_three_schools
        - dedicated_cross_school_advisor
        - funded_team_or_residency_participation
        - public_practicum_artifact

implementation:
  phase_1_2026_2027:
    - convene_cross_school_ai_arts_council
    - launch_joint_production_fund
    - launch_valiant_artist_residencies
    - appoint_bicoastal_program_director
    - prepare_human_centered_ai_center_application
  phase_2_2027_2028:
    - open_residential_bicoastal_fellowship
    - launch_graduate_certificate
    - commission_frist_and_nmaam_projects
    - exhibit_outputs_together
    - operate_temporary_production_studio
  phase_3_2028_2030:
    - secure_sustained_external_funding
    - create_joint_appointments
    - build_permanent_innovation_neighborhood_studio
    - connect_nashville_sf_and_public_partners_through_recurring_cohorts

budget:
  noncapital_initial_range: [600000, 1100000]
  note: >-
    Figures are planning bands from the July 2026 institutional study and do
    not represent approved Vanderbilt allocations.

public_files:
  html: index.html
  stylesheet: institutions.css
  machine_readable_brief: strategy.yaml