Jinjun Xiong, the founding dean of UT San Antonio's College of AI, Cyber and Computing, is leading the college's relocation to downtown San Antonio to integrate academic research with local government and industry partners. The move positions the university's technology programs at the center of the city's tech corridor as it pursues R1 research status.
Downtown transition and campus integration
Faculty and staff will move into new classrooms and offices in the San Pedro I and II buildings this summer. Xiong views the relocation as a chance to place students closer to business and community partnerships.
Since starting on March 1, Xiong has held open dialogues with staff to address the transition. "The college has a lot of energy," he said. "It's a new college, and people feel both excited and nervous about this integration and these new changes."
He outlined five priorities for the transition. These include completing the downtown move, strengthening ties with UT Health San Antonio, advancing the university's cybersecurity leadership, rethinking classroom technology, and increasing research output.
Cross-disciplinary health research
Xiong plans to deepen collaboration with UT Health San Antonio by combining cybersecurity, applied AI education, and computing with health sciences. This integration aims to apply technical research directly to medical and biological challenges.
The Department of Statistics and Data Science already holds consulting hours with the School of Nursing and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Faculty are also working with the Long School of Medicine and the Marmion School of Public Health.
Xiong wants to systematize these efforts by bringing computing experts directly onto health science campuses to support their specific research missions.
Updating curricula and faculty growth
The college is reevaluating its instructional methods to ensure students develop practical skills while learning alongside artificial intelligence tools, reflecting broader shifts in AI for Education.
Xiong also wants to build on the university's existing cybersecurity strengths to increase its national profile. He noted the need to recruit more faculty members to compete internationally, directly addressing the workforce demand for AI for IT & Development.
Why this matters for education, IT, and research professionals
Academic institutions are restructuring their technology programs to bridge the gap between classroom theory and industry application. Professionals in these fields should watch how universities integrate health sciences with computing, as these cross-disciplinary models often dictate future workforce requirements and research funding priorities.
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