About the Roux Institute

Northeastern’s Roux Institute is designed to spur innovation, build talent, and drive economic growth in Portland, the state of Maine, and the Northeast. Partnerships—with industry, academia, and government—set our education and research model apart.

Graduate learning and research for the AI-driven economy

The world is being radically transformed by artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. In 2020, Northeastern launched the Roux Institute with tech entrepreneur David Roux to build expertise at the intersection of humans and machines. The institute offers graduate education and research capabilities in areas that will revolutionize life and work: AI, computer and data sciences, digital engineering, and the advanced life sciences and medicine.

As the world leader in experiential learning, Northeastern has a history of aligning students’ learning with employers’ needs. The Roux Institute partners with Maine companies to equip the workforce with essential tech skills and advance research and development. Together they aim to establish an innovation corridor stretching from Boston to Portland and beyond.

The Roux Institute gives us an opportunity to have deeper engagement with existing businesses—and to expand new ones. We’re building a talent pool that responds to the needs of tech companies.

Kate Snyder

Mayor, City of Portland

About David and Barbara Roux

The Roux Institute is named in recognition of the generous founding investment made by David Roux and his wife, Barbara. The Rouxs understand the challenges posed to society by rapid technological change—and why a new model of education is the best way to meet emerging industry needs.

The Rouxs teamed with Northeastern as the institute’s founding academic partner because they believe in the power of its distinctive model, which makes employers vital partners in learning and research. They saw opportunities ahead for transforming Portland, Maine, into a hub for nurturing talent and innovation in AI and other tech-forward fields.

Northeastern is the right partner for Maine. They have an approach that says, ‘Let’s work with business to identify what their needs are, and we’ll define an educational curriculum around that.’

Bill Caron

CEO, MaineHealth

Our Portland campus

In early November 2020, the Roux Institute opened its campus in the city’s Old Port district at 100 Fore St., also the new headquarters of corporate partner WEX, Inc. This initial campus, just one block from the eastern waterfront, features 25,000 square feet of space for classrooms, study, and meetings, and offers ample parking. Plans call for a permanent campus by 2024, with space for research laboratories as well as teaching.

  • R1

    research university
    Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education

  • 1,503

    Northeastern faculty

Collaboration that drives innovation

Join our founding partners. Together, we co-design employee learning programs and build talent pipelines. And we collaborate to innovate through research, speeding the translation of discoveries into advanced technologies.

The Roux Institute in the news