A federally funded artificial intelligence program will give researchers from anywhere in the country access to equipment at OASIS, a technology and science hub for UC Santa Barbara students and startup companies.

The four-year grant will fund an AI-programmable cloud laboratory at the UCSB facility that can be accessed remotely by any researcher in the country.

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara announced the federal grant on Friday to a group of UCSB administrators and faculty in The Robert Mehrabian college of engineering outside the OASIS facility, 71 S. Los Carneros Road in Goleta.

“You can run research from anywhere at any time,” said Javier Read de Alaniz, a professor in the UCSB department of chemistry and biochemistry.

Read de Alaniz is also a co-director of BioPACIFIC MIP, a federally funded program for synthetic biology, chemistry and materials science research. BioPACIFIC MIP is partnered with UCSB, and it was selected to receive the AI program.

Universities such as Stanford, Cal Tech and Scripps are also operating the AI-programable cloud lab. 

“This is a big freaking deal,” Carbajal said. 

UCSB has operated its OASIS facility in Goleta since last fall, and includes student researchers as well as private and public companies.

The OASIS facility includes an open office space with desktops and cubicles. The office space is also surrounded by laboratories with student researchers.   

It was the “brain child” of Umesh Mishra, dean of the Robert Mehrabian college of engineering, said Ram Seshadri, associate dean for research at UCSB    

Under the National Science Foundation, UCSB was awarded the $20 million grant for four years, Read de Alaniz said.

A vetting process is required for researchers who apply to work remotely at the OASIS facility. The application is limited to U.S. organizations, said Rachel Segalman, vice chancellor for research at UCSB.