Advancing Organizational Capabilities in AI/ML through Collaboration, Community Building, and a Deep Learning Academy

AI/ML is a critical focus area for the future readiness of any organization. Besides acquiring and fostering specialized talent in that area however, successful projects also require application domain knowledge. These two perspectives must be combined to successfully push research forward and create fruitful results. To build our capabilities in this rapidly growing field, SSAI developed a comprehensive approach to guide AI/ML capacity building. The cornerstone of this is our Deep Learning Academy: a multifaceted program aimed at augmenting existing domain knowledge with significant AI/ML capabilities in less than one year. In addition to presenting information on this program, we share our vision for a collaborative learning community in the Earth and environmental sciences that spans organization and sector boundaries. This presentation was given during the 2022 ESIP January meeting held virtually in January 2022.