Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

College Students in AI Take World's Greatest Field Trip' to GTC

18/10/2021

Seventy-five students from Houston Community College's new two-year artificial intelligence program will attend NVIDIA's GTC conference next month.

Calling it the greatest field trip of all time, the program's coordinator, G. Raymond Brown, sees it as a way to bring students in the program up to speed fast.

The program at HCC, launched in August 2020, aims to get skilled workers into Houston's booming job market. HCC reaches more than 110,000 students per year, making it one of the largest and most diverse two-year public colleges in the United States.

We've found GTC to be a marvelous resource, said Brown, who first sent students to the conference in April. Being virtual has made an enormous difference for us.

Bringing More Skills to More Workers GTC is one of the premier events in AI, accelerated computing, autonomous vehicles and robotics.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference brought together innovators from various industries at events in Silicon Valley and around the world.

But GTC went virtual in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

When that happened, Brown and USAi Labs, a Houston nonprofit developer network specializing in mentoring, education and intelligence-based R&D, sprang into action.

With the bulk of the conference free, and no need to worry about a travel budget, GTC's lineup of speakers, training sessions and keynotes could become an invaluable resource.

That's what Brown - who holds a Ph.D. in physics from Duke University and is known as Doc Brown - was looking to add to HCC's AI program.

The cost of tuition at four-year colleges in the United States has never been higher, leaving many students with enormous debts.

At the same time, worldwide demand for AI skills is surging.

And there are a vast number of opportunities in Houston, America's most diverse city, with its medical, aerospace, oil and gas, and technology industries, Brown said.

Brown, who has worked in private industry and as a physics professor at four-year colleges, knows this territory well.

Two years ago, he saw an opportunity for an affordable two-year college program at HCC that could make a difference by engaging a broad population of students.

The goal: prepare them for jobs as AI support specialists who can help enterprise teams put the latest AI technologies to work.

As a result, Brown's students are already busy.

He said that many already have part-time jobs and side gigs, even before his nascent program has graduated a single student.

One student, Denzel Wilson (left), spent the summer at Rice University, helping graduate students and faculty in bio-genomics put AI techniques to work to advance their research.

Another student recently gave a presentation on the latest AI techniques at the Pumps and Pipes meetup. It brings Houston's world-class oil and gas engineers together with members of the region's medical community to exchange ideas.

Brown says such opportunities can be the first rung on the career ladder for his students, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

And many employers are eager to pay for more training and education for new hires, letting students accumulate in-demand skills rather than debt.

Others, such as Neethi Anand Gangidi (right), who already holds master's degrees in chemical engineering and subsea engineering, see HCC's AI program as a way to swiftly add practical AI to their skill sets.

Digging In In the spring, Brown added GTC to three of the program's courses - History, Theory and Platforms 1370, Machine Learning in AI 1371, and Computer Vision in AI 1378 - in two course modules with assignments, discussions and presentations.

Some courses in the program even make use of teaching kits from NVIDIA's Deep Learning Institute.

Brown reports students dug right in, starting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's keynote. Some students, like Gangidi, sat in on dozens of sessions across a wide variety of industries.

Having the opportunity to learn what's going on in the AI industry is really awesome, Gangidi said.

From there, students chose sessions that piqued their interest. Brown reports that many were overwhelmed in the first few days, but they soon got their bearings.

They began to pick up on who was influential in the world of AI. They started to understand trends in the field better. And they got a broader perspective on the growing number of industries it's reshaping, Brown reports.

There are just so many things to take in, said Wilson, who is taking courses at HCC while he works as a laboratory assistant.

One of the most valuable lessons students learned from seasoned pros working in AI is that it's a process rather than a product.

Most of the kids were surprised, Brown said. Most students believe everything should work out of the box. They don't realize that good AI is a matter of gradually getting to the right answers, not an instant answer.

Brown's eager to send students back for more. For next month's GTC, he's expanding the amount of coursework built around GTC.

We want our students to see themselves as the professionals they are becoming, Brown said. That starts with inclusion in events like GTC.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/10/18/community-college-students-wo...
See more stories from nvidia

North America Stories

18/06/2026

The Gauge: Poland | May 2026

The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...

18/06/2026

Gracenote and PubMatic Bring Curated Live Sports and Content-Level Deals to Programmatic CTV

Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...

18/06/2026

AJA Debuts Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis for...

AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...

18/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Faster AV-over-I...

New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...

18/06/2026

Mavis Studio Brings New Muscle to Mobile Production on iP...

At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...

18/06/2026

Harmonic Completes Divestiture of Video Business to Media...

Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...

18/06/2026

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR Partner to Power the Futur...

ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...

18/06/2026

IBC2026 creates new pathways from innovation to real-worl...

IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...

18/06/2026

PLIANT TECHNOLOGIES DEBUTS CREWCOM FLEX THE WORLDS FIRST...

Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...

18/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Strengthens its Capabilities with New...

The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...

18/06/2026

Hollywood Filmmakers Launch AI Production Platform Cascade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

ATVA Blasts Deltavision Media for Demanding 'Egregious' Retrans Fees

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

AJA Unveils Io Xpand Thunderbolt 5 Expansion Chassis At InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

18/06/2026

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...

18/06/2026

Sync and Stream: GeForce NOW Connects to Members' Game Libraries Across Devices

Play favorite titles from popular game libraries, keep progress synced and jump ...

18/06/2026

At Cannes Lions, NVIDIA Partners Reshape Advertising and Marketing With AI

The digital era gave the advertising and marketing industry speed; the AI era is giving it autonomous operations. For companies building next-generation techn...

17/06/2026

EVS Achieves EcoVadis Gold Medal, Ranking in Top 5% of Companies Globally

EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...

17/06/2026

Chyron Releases Weather 2.4 with Updated DataFlow Module

Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...

17/06/2026

VSiN Launches Best Bets TV, a 24/7 FAST Channel

VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...

17/06/2026

Snapchat and Team Whistle Launch World Cup Creator Program Across Miami, New York, and Los Angeles

DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...

17/06/2026

LiveU Supporting Broadcast and Public Safety Operations for Summer of Soccer

LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...

17/06/2026

NATAS Announces Two New Board Members and COO Promotion

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...

17/06/2026

Akta Brings AI-First Cloud Video Workflows to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Akta, the AI-First SaaS video platform for modern broadcast and streaming operations, today announced that its video platform is now generally available on Orac...

17/06/2026

SVG Students to Watch: Nicholas Stafford, Texas Southern University

This recent graduate from Houston found inspiration in technical directing and now eyes a future career in sports production...

17/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audio-Technica Brings New Wireless, Networked Audio, and Certified Conferencing Solutions

Audio-Technica (booth C7959) arrives at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas with a slate ...

17/06/2026

SNS Positions AI Suite as On-Premise Answer to Video Indexing and Search Demands

SNS has published a guide addressing growing demand for AI-powered video indexing, transcription, facial recognition, and searchable metadata across media libra...

17/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Network Troubleshooting on NETGEAR Pro AV Switches

Providius has announced Providius Direct, a workflow for investigating network i...

17/06/2026

NEP Launches NEP Platform Software Orchestration System, Selects Bridge Technologies VB440

NEP Group has announced the commercial availability of NEP Platform, a software ...

17/06/2026

BBright White Paper: SRT vs. RIST for Professional Video Contribution and Distribution

A new white paper examining Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Reliable Interne...

17/06/2026

Bango Research: 51% of Gen Z Say Highlights Are Replacing Live Games

New research from subscription bundling platform Bango finds that younger sports fans are increasingly consuming sport through highlights, clips, and social med...

17/06/2026

SMPTE Opens Entire Standards Library to Public at No Cost

SMPTE has announced that its complete Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community, including all published SMPTE Standard...

17/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business, Creating Independent Video Infrastructure Heavyweight

Harmonic has completed the sale of its Video Business to MediaKind for $145 mill...

17/06/2026

Omaha Productions to Produce 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event Coverage for ESPN

Omaha Productions will produce the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vega...

17/06/2026

NABLF Graduates Its 2026 Broadcasting Leadership Training Class

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

ABC and ESPN Score Most-Watched NBA Finals Since 1998

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Smartly, Roku Bring Social Performance Tools to CTV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Pliant Technologies Debuts Crewcom Flex at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Above image: On set live immersive revi...

17/06/2026

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Large format sensor and DaVinci Resolve workflow used fo...

17/06/2026

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Production Workflows

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Pro...

17/06/2026

Spectrum Awards $1.1 Million in Digital Education Grants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Adds New Members

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Online IPMX Training Series

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Partners with SFM to Expand AV-over-IP Solutions...

Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Launches U4 IP Video Dock Bringing Professional...

Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...

17/06/2026

France Advances Europe's AI Future With NVIDIA Technologies

A year ago at NVIDIA GTC Paris at VivaTech, France laid out plans to advance local AI - from new AI factories and national compute capacity to open frontier mod...

17/06/2026

Half Year, Half Off! Ivory II Summer Sale is Here

Save 50% on All Ivory II Pianos and Collections Were halfway through the year, and we're cutting prices in half for the Ivory II Summer Sale! For a limite...

17/06/2026

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day...

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day, now visible on your LinkedIn profile Published on Jun 17, 2026 Categories: Company News, Product ...

17/06/2026

June 16, 2026

Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...