The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has announced a $4.6 million grant from the Warren Alpert Foundation to establish a computational biology/AI training and retention program.

The program—to be named after Warren Alpert, a businessman and philanthropist who died in 2007—will be housed in the school’s department of computational medicine and help address the increasing demand for skilled professionals with training in both the computational biology and AI fields. The funding also will provide scholarships to graduate students as well as professionals seeking additional training and establish a network of scholars, connecting them with opportunities in both industry and academia, with the goal of retaining them in computational biomedicine.

In addition, the program will focus on attracting scholars from communities broadly underrepresented in science fields to increase workforce diversity among computational biology and AI professionals. To that end, UCLA will leverage the program’s offerings to expand its relationships with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as well as schools in the California State University system, creating opportunities to recruit, train, and retain scholars from diverse backgrounds.

“There is an incredible demand for individuals with expertise in computational biology and AI, and our new program will play a pivotal role in meeting this demand,” said UCLA department of computational medicine chair Eleazar Eskin. “[This support] makes it possible for us to create this program to help advance education and training in this critical field.”

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