NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Volunteer State is helping lead America’s Golden Age of science. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced Friday, October 16, that the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University are founding members of the Southeast Regional Superintelligence (SI) Computing Consortium — a new alliance unveiled by the White House at President Trump’s Science: A New Golden Age Summit on October 8.
The consortium brings together roughly 15 universities across 10 states to combine resources, share capabilities and expand access to leadership-class computing infrastructure for scientific research. Alongside UT and Vanderbilt, founding partners include Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, South Carolina and UT Austin.
“This collaboration can accelerate discovery, support commercialization and strengthen U.S. leadership in science and technology,” TNECD said. The department added that the effort connects Tennessee’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, energy, healthcare and logistics with partners across the region — creating new opportunities for research, investment and high-quality jobs.
It is part of what the White House called the most ambitious set of science initiatives this century. At the summit, the Trump Administration announced historic investments in state and regional SI infrastructure hubs to put advanced computing power in the hands of researchers nationwide — so the next breakthroughs happen in America, not in China.
For Tennessee, home to world-class research in Knoxville and Nashville, it means a front-row seat in the race to win the future. Watch the White House’s Golden Age of Science Summit video above.
