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A new report from AIReDex.ai^TM ranks 911���� as the top university in Virginia when it comes to preparing its students for an AI-driven future.

The report, "," rates 911���� 8.8 out of 10, putting it in the “progressive” category, on the strength of its wraparound commitment to AI accessibility and readiness.

Many universities in the commonwealth are innovating in AI, but 911����’s innovative guiding principles have helped push it to the top. “The state's most AI-ready campus isn't the one with the highest acceptance bar or the oldest name,” the report notes. “It's the one that appointed a Chief AI Officer first, built its own AI platform, and opened AI coursework to every student on campus, not just the ones majoring in computer science.”

911���� named Amarda Shehu as its inaugural vice president and chief AI officer in September 2024. 

In 2025, Shehu and Charmaine Madison, vice president and chief information officer, unveiled AI2Nexus, a nexus of collaboration and resources on campus, regional partnerships, and statewide collaboration. AI2Nexus is based on four key principles: integrating AI to transform education, research, and operations; inspiring with AI to advance higher education and learning for the future workforce; innovating with AI to lead in responsible AI-enabled discovery and advancements across disciplines; and impacting with AI to drive partnerships and community engagement for societal adoption and change.

The university launched PatriotAI, a suite of six tools hosted by Microsoft and Cloudforce, in 2025, along with AI Guidelines that were drafted by the AI Visioning Task Force—touching every academic and nonacademic unit—spearheaded by Shehu.

In spring 2025, the university launched a cross-disciplinary graduate course—AI: Ethics, Policy, and Society. In fall 2025, the university debuted a new undergraduate course, AI4All: Understanding and Building Artificial Intelligence, open to all students. The university also offers a master's in computer science and machine learning, a master of science in AI, an Ethics and AI minor for undergraduates of all majors, and a Responsible AI Graduate Certificate.

The report also cites the Grand Challenge Initiative, the transformational $20 million gift from the Kimmy Duong Foundation naming the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing, the $1.5 million Virginia AI Data Center Research Lab at Fuse at Mason Square, and crossdisciplinary research at the Institute for Digital Innovation and the Center for Human-AI Innovation in Society as further evidence of an institution-level commitment. 

The AIReDex^TM report notes that the university still has room to grow: “Two things could still widen Mason's lead: a standalone undergraduate AI degree beyond its current concentrations, and a flagship-scale federal AI grant as lead institution.”

Shehu shared the news on LinkedIn, noting that she was “happy to see that 911���� is recognized for the work we have done in this space.”

Shehu closed her post by noting that 911���� is often “doing more than we are telling. So, this is a long way of saying: Thank you for the recognition, we know we are, and we have lots more coming.” 

AIReDex^TM, the AI Readiness Index, is an independent research company that measures the AI readiness of any college or university and how well a school prepares its students for a world increasingly immersed in AI. The report was complimentary of Virginia higher education institutions overall, noting “a genuinely deep bench for AI readiness that most states don't match.”

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The methodology includes a four-part rubric of institutional commitment, curriculum, partnerships, and research. The scores and rankings reflect independent evaluation benchmarks by AIReDex^TM that may be subject to change over time.