Old Dominion University partners with Google to launch a first-of-its kind AI incubator

by WHRO, Virginia Mercury
November 21, 2025

By Toby Cox/WHRO

Old Dominion University announced in October it was partnering with Google Cloud to launch an incubator for artificial intelligence research and applications.

Through the new incubator, students, faculty, staff, local cities and small businesses can access Google’s advanced AI tools they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

ODU professor Chrysoula Malogianni described the incubator, called the MonarchSphere, as an “ecosystem” that will help both those within the university and the broader community.

“At the same time, (they) tap into access to ODU expertise, and that expertise, obviously, is research expertise,” she said.

Internally, ODU is using the incubator to develop AI advisors to help those who advise students. Researchers can test ideas and practical applications of AI in areas like coastal resilience, defense, cybersecurity and healthcare in an environment where they won’t have to commit to buying costly licenses to Google’s products.

Already, the incubator has 30 researchers working on projects, Malogianni said. The researchers come from a variety of backgrounds, including computer science, data science, quantum computing and philosophy.

Professor George McLeod is the director of ODU’s geospatial research center. He and his team are replicating a project that estimates the economic impact of a hurricane striking Hampton Roads. Flood and hurricane modeling require an enormous amount of data, which can be time consuming to process, he said.

He said using the incubator’s advanced AI tools may be able to speed up processing time, lead to more accurate results and discover new research questions.

“There’s a lot of natural concern about whether AI is giving us the truth,” he said. “Is AI giving us accurate results? Our role as a partner with Google in the MonarchSphere is to help develop these tools.”

ODU electrical and computer engineering professor Khan Iftekharuddin has been developing computer models for glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, for several years. The models use MRI images to predict how tumors will grow and how quickly, which can help doctors determine if treatment is possible.

Without the advanced Google AI tools, the process takes nearly 2 hours per patient, multiplied by thousands of patients, Iftekharuddin said. With Google’s advanced tools, that time is cut to just 44 minutes per patient.

“Human health is, I think, one of the most important areas where AI and this kind of computation is going to make a difference, and it is making a difference,” Iftekharuddin said.

The collaboration between Google and ODU also includes certificate opportunities for students, such as Google Career Certificates, into degree and continuing education programs.

“Students not only learn about AI,” Malogianni said. “AI becomes the content, the context and the tool.”

The incubator will be open to people outside of ODU, too, Malogianni said. Small businesses or organizations may have a problem they’d like to solve with AI, but don’t have the tools or know-how to make it happen.

The university eventually will establish an intake process, Malogianni said.

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