Nearly 18 months after its conception, the physical location of the New Jersey AI Hub is almost complete near Route 1.
The AI Hub began as a collaboration between Princeton and the New Jersey Economic Development Association. Microsoft, a leader in AI, and CoreWeave, a Livingston-based startup aiming to deploy AI at scale, joined Princeton and New Jersey as founding partners in January 2025. These four partners will serve to advance the AI Hub’s three pillars: promoting AI research, commercializing and accelerating innovation, and strengthening and scaling AI education.
The AI hub is now looking for its leader. After more than a year and a half, the University and the founders of the AI Hub are currently searching for an executive director.
“There’s such alignment across what all of us want to do with the AI hub that really the Executive Director will come on board … to bring the vision to life,” said Princeton Vice President and Secretary Hilary Parker.
The position opened on Feb. 25. According to Parker, the executive director of the AI Hub will be a University employee who works closely with the governing board of the AI Hub, which will include members from each of those founding organizations.
For Princeton’s part, Provost Jennifer Rexford ’91 noted that many administrators are involved, including Vice Dean for Innovation Craig Arnold, outgoing Dean of Engineering Andrea Goldsmith, and Office of State Affairs Assistant Vice President David Reiner. Senior Strategic AI Hub Project Manager Jeffrey Oakman GS ’03 was “brought on specifically to focus on driving a lot of this work,” Rexford noted.
Hiring of staff will continue once the corporate partners move into the physical space. CoreWeave currently has a team of three people working on this project.
The new hub will be located in West Windsor along Route 1, an eight-minute drive from Nassau Hall. Despite the 40-minute walk from campus, University leaders involved in the project promise that faculty and students will receive benefits as well.
According to Rexford, the AI Hub will allow students and faculty to transfer their ideas to local industries, for example, by providing guidance for ideas that students may not realize could solve problems for “pharma companies or a telecom company.”
Corey Sanders ’04 is CoreWeave Senior Vice President of Strategy and a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. Sanders described plans to launch a set of summer internships at the AI Hub for students. He said that he hopes that the internships will “strengthen the AI education component” and “enable growth and development of the workforce” in the state.
When asked when the internships would begin, Sanders said, “The goal would be as soon as possible.” He continued, “We need to move quickly with the launch of the AI Hub.”
“What we gain to benefit is the tide that lifts all boats,” Sanders said. He explained, “The opportunity to improve the workforce, the opportunity to develop and culture early-stage startups, the opportunity to take research from the top universities of the state and turn them into much more applicable technologies for the next generation of advancement.”
Sanders worked for Microsoft until January 2025. Each partner is focusing on a pillar of the AI hub — research, commercialization and accelerating innovation, education and training.
Mike Egan, Senior Director of TechSpark, a Microsoft program that assists startup ventures aimed at community improvement across the country, explained how the partners will be tackling these pillars.
Egan shared that the first pillar will be aimed at asking, “How do we take local companies, startups, small businesses and others, bring them into the lab, and have them think about AI? What can AI bring their company? How can they become more efficient? How can they integrate with AI?”
The second pillar will be the primary focus of CoreWeave, which Egan said will be aimed at asking, “Can we accelerate new companies, new startups, new businesses?”
The third pillar of the AI Hub will promote “workforce development and skilling (training),” which is something that TechSpark and Microsoft will primarily handle, Egan said.
Egan explained that this pillar is particularly focused on training students in community colleges across New Jersey. “We’ve already had some inroads with the New Jersey Community College Association, so we don’t want to limit it just to Princeton,” Egan said. He also shared that he expects Rutgers University to become a partner in the future. Rutgers currently has an Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory housed under their department of computer science and 11 faculty associated with AI.
Egan shared that once the Executive Director is chosen, TechSpark will also be hiring a manager who will help advance the third pillar of the AI Hub: workforce development.
“The TechSpark manager will serve both as a technology kind of liaison to Microsoft and all its resources, but also a real local community manager driving skilling across the state,” Egan said.
NJ AI Hub interior rendering.
Rendering courtesy of Janisak Biddle Architects on behalf of the NJ AI Hub.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has bigger hopes for the AI Hub, hoping that it will revitalize the New Jersey industry standards.
“New Jersey, through thick and thin … largely held on to the big corporate players,” Murphy said. “Where we lost our way, and we lost our way badly, was in the startup community.”
The AI hub is one of 10 Strategic Innovation Centers that the NJEDA has invested money into, hoping to catalyze industry in the Garden state by helping startup companies get off the ground with state-level assistance. According to Murphy, it is cheaper to “birth a new company” rather than try to incentivize companies to come to New Jersey “after they’ve already grown up.”
Microsoft President and University Trustee Brad Smith ’81 shared with the ‘Prince’ his understanding of the AI Hub as constantly evolving and adapting to meet current needs. “This has, in my view, the potential to have a very long and dynamic life,” said Smith. “It [the AI Hub], just like Princeton University, is never finished.”
Smith is also hopeful that the growing startup ecosystem of New Jersey will encourage startups to develop in the state.
According to a Feb. 2 press release from the NJEDA, the founding equity partners will collectively invest “over $72 million to support the long-term success of the AI Hub, including up to $25 million of non-binding commitment from the NJEDA.”
In an interview with ‘Prince,’ Murphy shared that, should other partners decide to invest, the N.J. Government “will match other partners’ financial commitments,” dollar for dollar, up to $25 million.
Though no exact date has been announced, according to Parker, the AI Hub will be up and running “within weeks.” There will be an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion of the AI Hub’s physical location on Thursday, March 27, at 10 a.m.
“With the space ready, and events ready to plan, I think that there’s going to be a lot of activity that will kick off this Spring and then continue,” Parker said.
Egan shared that future sponsorship and alumni opportunities will arise once the AI Hub is up and running.
He explained, “I could see other sponsorship opportunities, where [other companies] could come in and run their own kind of clinic — their own kind of deep dive in a particular region … other kinds of engagements that they help sponsor with students and faculty at Princeton.”
Luke Grippo is a senior News writer and Features contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from South Jersey and usually covers administrative issues, including Undergraduate Student Government, the Council of the Princeton University Community, and institutional legacy.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
After difficult season, two men’s basketball assistants asked not to return for the 2025–26 season
Doug SchwartzThe coaching change comes after a tumultuous season that saw the Tigers lose to the Yale Bulldogs in the Ivy Madness semifinals after being the preseason favorite to head to the NCAA tournament.
The coaching change comes after a tumultuous season that saw the Tigers lose to the Yale Bulldogs in the Ivy Madness semifinals after being the preseason favorite to head to the NCAA tournament.
Q&A with Eisgruber turns tense at CPUC meeting
Cynthia TorresAt the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting on Monday, Eisgruber was confronted with queries from several students who had skirted the committee’s rules on submitting questions on advance.
At the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) meeting on Monday, Eisgruber was confronted with queries from several students who had skirted the committee’s rules on submitting questions on advance.
Overhaul of nearly dormant Judicial Committee proposed at CPUC meeting
Christopher BaoAt the CPUC meeting on March 24, changes were proposed to the Judicial Committee an appeals body that may also play a small role in coordinating investigations.
At the CPUC meeting on March 24, changes were proposed to the Judicial Committee an appeals body that may also play a small role in coordinating investigations.