Marist University and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced the launch of an Innovation Incubator at the Poughkeepsie, New York campus, expanding their more than 50-year partnership to include university-wide artificial intelligence research and experiential learning.

The incubator includes an IBM z17 mainframe, which IBM provided to give students and faculty access to enterprise-level computing for research and application development. The collaboration, previously centered on enterprise computing and computer science education, will now span multiple disciplines across the university.

Three initial projects are planned under the incubator. The first will use autonomous AI agent teams to run synthetic marketing campaigns and test the effectiveness of built-in ethical guardrails. The second will apply quantum optimization algorithms to real-time financial data to generate portfolio allocations. The third will explore how AI can improve polling methodologies and model voter participation trends, involving the Marist Poll.

Marist President Kevin Weinman said the university's relationship with IBM has provided students access to technology and applied learning experiences, adding that the new initiative extends those opportunities into AI, research, and innovation across the institution.

Tina Tarquinio, Chief Product Officer for IBM Z and LinuxONE and IBM's Senior Location Executive for the Mid-Hudson Valley, said the partnership creates pathways for research, learning, and workforce development.

According to the announcement, the collaboration is intended to treat AI and digital skills as relevant across all fields of study rather than limiting them to computer science programs. The university serves more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six schools and nearly 50 majors.