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April 2025 Issue
Table of Contents:
- Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth
- SAIL Update
- NSF and AI institutes at ai+expo June 2–4 in Washington, D.C.
- NAIRR Pilot Office Hours on May 13
- AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program
- Student Spotlight: Yuhang Hu, Columbia University
- ACCESS On-Ramp on AIVO Website
- New Resource from INVITE
- MMLI Research Paper
- AI-SDM Team Members Named AAAS Fellows
- Call for Student Spotlights
Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth
On April 23, a new Executive Order entitled, “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth,” was posted. The Executive Order specifically mentions the AI Institutes in two sections:
Section 6b: “Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Task Force shall identify existing Federal AI resources on which agencies may rely, such as the NSF- and Department of Agriculture-sponsored National AI Research Institutes, to support partnerships with State and local educational agencies to improve AI education.”
The Institutes are also referenced in Section 6d: “ … utiliz(ing) existing research programs to assist State and local efforts to use AI for improved student achievement, attainment, and mobility”.
AIVO’s advice is to know the public links to your educational material that has been produced or referenced and be ready to direct any inquiries to those public links. Please also email us (aivo@ucdavis.edu) if you do receive reach-outs, so we can help aggregate the landscape of what occurs.
Coincidentally, this summer we’re planning the aggregation of educational resources from the Institutes into a portal. The portal is part of one strand of effort in the Ed4AI program funded by Google.org. Stay tuned for more updates on activities funded through the Google.org grant, including the “AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program” article in this issue of AIVO News.
SAIL Update
The SAIL 2025 planning committee is progressing on the SAIL program. We have exciting changes in the program to foster more engagement and networking opportunities!
This year’s conference will be held in Reston, VA, October 21–23, 2025. Both in-person and online attendance options will be available.
SAIL 2025
October 21–23, 2025
Hyatt Regency Reston
Reston, VA
NSF and AI institutes at ai+expo June 2–4 in Washington, D.C.
NSF will have a booth at the ai+expo for national competitiveness at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. from June 2–4. The purpose of the event is “to serve as a forum for industry, government, and academic research entities to exhibit some of the latest technological breakthroughs,” with AI leading the list of topics.
Within the NSF booth, there will be the main NSF table and three representative focus areas of NSF, including the Engines program, the SBIR program, and the AI Institutes. The AI Institute for Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation (ACTION) will represent the AI Institutes.
We understand that at least one AI Institute is on the program. Let AIVO know if you are on the program and we’ll get your activity covered.
NAIRR Pilot Office Hours on May 13
Do you have questions about your active NAIRR Pilot award? You can get them answered during office hours on May 13!
On May 13, 2025 from 3:00–4:00 p.m. EDT, Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIPs) from the Strengthening the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals Ecosystem (SCIPE) program will host virtual office hours on the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot. Register now.
CIPs will assist with questions related to active NAIRR Pilot awards, and the Zoom session will cover all skill levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).
CIPs in the SCIPE program come from a diverse set of scientific disciplines and institutions (which may not be the institution hosting your allocated resource). Providing a detailed description of your issue/help request at the time of registration will give them an opportunity to prepare for your consultation.
SCIPE CIPs will connect you with the appropriate Resource Provider staff if your issue isn’t resolved during the office hours. Registration is required to receive the Office Hours Zoom link.
Other NAIRR Resources:
AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program
Congratulations to the 14 grad students who have been accepted into the AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program!
With funding from Google.org through the AI4Ed program, the five AI Institutes focused on education (iSAT, AI-ALOE, EngageAI, AI4ExceptionalEd, and INVITE) have initiated the inaugural AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program. Each Institute nominated up to three graduate students, who will receive supplemental stipends for working collaboratively with other Institute students and postdocs.
The students have been matched in small groups based on interest area. They will meet regularly throughout the summer, culminating in an in-person symposium in the Midwest at the end of summer.
Look for an update on the AIVO AI Institute Summer Graduate Fellow Program in a future issue of AIVO News.
Student Spotlight: Yuhang Hu, Columbia University
On “Robots Learn to How to Move By Watching Themselves”
AIVO recently caught up with Yuhang Hu, PhD student at Columbia University. We talked about his work with the AI Institute for Dynamic Systems (DynamicsAI). Read the excerpt from our interview to learn about Yuhang’s research on robots’ self-supervised learning and facial expression.
ACCESS On-Ramp on AIVO Website
There’s a new page on the AIVO website: The Resources page is home to an on-ramp for the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS).
ACCESS is an NSF-funded program that provides complimentary cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources to US-based researchers, educators, and students.
Please encourage your Institute’s GSRs and GRAs to make use of these free advanced computing and storage options!
The ACCESS on-ramp includes a resource catalog, complete with a “System Info” button to get the resource’s documentation. When you’re ready to get started with the ACCESS program, use the “Get Your First Project” button.
You’ll also find links to get more information on two other resources – the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot and CloudBank – on the Resources page.
New Resource from INVITE
AI Institute for Innovative Intelligent Technologies for Education (INVITE) Director H. Chad Lane recently shared a presentation on using generative AI tools in academic research! Access the slides on the AIVO Intraweb (login required) in the Forms, Procedures, and Resources section at the top of the Intraweb landing page.
The slides are from a talk he gave for AI-CLIMATE grad students and postdocs. If you’re interested in requesting his talk for your Institute’s grad students and postdocs, please email him (hclane <AT> illinois <DOT> edu).
MMLI Research Paper
Last month, the Molecule Maker Lab Institute (MMLI) released new research that revealed ways to increase sustainability and lower consumers’ costs!
The NSF-funded research uncovered a novel method to streamline a manufacturing process that is used to make a slew of commonly used goods. The paper, “Catalytic Allylation of Native Hexoses and Pentoses in Water with Indium,” was published in Nature. Read the research abstract.
Chemistry expert Dr. Scott Denmark and team discovered a new manufacturing process that is 100% efficient. These efficiencies greatly reduce chemical waste, improve recyclability, and save energy. Because the improvements will result in a significant reduction in manufacturing costs, those cost savings can be passed on to consumers.
The patented process involves manipulating molecules, and it allows for an autonomous flow of manufacturing polypropylene clarifiers. Polypropylene clarifiers are used in the range of 30,000 metric tons per year worldwide, and they help make a host of everyday items, from packaging, appliances, and housewares to syringes, water bottles, Tupperware, and car bumpers.
Watch a video interview with Dr. Denmark on the MMLI YouTube channel, from MMLI’s “Peer-Reviewed and Interviewed” video series.
Read the news story on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign website.
AI-SDM Team Members Named AAAS Fellows
Congratulations to Howie Choset and Cleotilde “Coty” Gonzalez! They were recently elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals.
Dr. Choset, a member of the Disaster Management & Public Health Team at AI-SDM, was recognized by AAAS for “distinguished contributions to the field of robotics, and for leadership in entrepreneurship and education.”
Dr. Gonzalez, Co-Director of the AI Institute for Societal Decision Making (AI-SDM), was recognized by AAAS for “distinguished contributions to the field of cognitive science, particularly the development of Instance-Based Learning Theory, from which computational models have emerged in cybersecurity, network science and human-machine teaming.”
Learn more about their AAAS fellow distinction in the Carnegie Mellon University news story. The AAAS fellow distinction is a lifetime honor achievement. Awardees will be inducted at the annual AAAS meeting on June 7, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Call for Student Spotlights
We’re delighted to feature outstanding students who work with the AI Institutes. If you would like to refer a student who wants to be featured in the newsletter and on the AIVO website, please email us at aivo@ucdavis.edu.
AIVO will contact the student directly to interview them and work on the article together.
Missed the last student spotlight? Read our feature on Natalie McCaffery, who works with AI-CLIMATE.
