The American Continent Institute was an institute of higher learning on Earth dating back to at least the early 23rd century. It was the operating authority which launched the SS Columbia expedition exploring the Talos star group. The survey ship had aboard team members Theodore Haskins and Vina, and crashed on Talos IV in 2236. No report back would be made until the starship Enterprise received a radio-interference distress call and discovered the wreckage in 2254, eighteen years later. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part I")
The ACI did some research on the archeological sites on Tagus III. (TNG: "QPid")
- The unnamed encampment survivors of the Institute's scientists were played by Leonard Mudie and Anthony Jochim.