Welcome to AIVO News! Our newsletter features projects, events, and opportunities within the NSF AI Institutes Virtual Organization community.
- To subscribe, please complete the AIVO Newsletter Signup Form.
- Contact us (at aivo@ucdavis.edu) to suggest items for an upcoming newsletter issue or to provide feedback.
August 2025 Issue
Table of Contents:
- NSF Awards Grant for AIVO 2.0
- SAIL 2025: Confirmed Keynote Speakers
- Cary Coglianese, University of Pennsylvania
- Alex Dimakis, University of California, Berkeley
- Robert Grey, Plug and Play
- New Programming for SAIL 2025: Partner Showcase and Graduate Student Workshop
- A Successful Summer Graduate Fellow Program Symposium
- Student Spotlight: David Hunt, Duke University
- September 19: Awareness Training for Using Artificial Intelligence for Building and Road Damage Assessment from Drone Imagery
- New Resource: LinkedIn Tip Sheet
- AIVO Communications Office Hours Available On-Demand
- NSF AI-SDM Fall 2025 Seminar Series Starts September 18
- Happenings in the Ed4AI Program
NSF Awards Grant for AIVO 2.0
In the July issue of AIVO News, we reported about our new grant award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). AIVO is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a five-year, $5M grant from NSF to grow our efforts and footprint as an NSF-branded community hub for the AI Institutes!
We are now known as NSF AIVO. The new grant allows us to develop more strategic programs that span a longer duration. We call this next stage AIVO 2.0.
Here’s a look ahead at our plans:
We’ll continue our mission as convener, connector, collaboration enabler, amplifier of Institutes, and public engager. Within this general mission, we will bring more resources to bear to help with the latter two areas – amplifying what the Institutes do and helping with public engagement.
We’ll develop videos and podcasts for various media/platforms that help tell the stories and impactful activities of all 29 Institutes along thematic strands.
As connector, we’ll build a resource portal that provides or connects to Institute-developed resources.
We’ll continue to support convening and collaboration via our workshops and travel grants program.
The continued funding for staff roles that support these efforts is also provided by the grant, allowing us to provide the important availability of skillsets that support this work, including communications, graphics, programming, administration, and the management of this network of networks. We look forward to continuing to serve this vibrant community!
Read the announcement to learn about all of the awards NSF announced on July 29, 2025.
SAIL 2025: Confirmed Keynote Speakers Cary Coglianese, Alex Dimakis, and Robert Grey
We’re thrilled to announce our keynote speakers for SAIL! Visit the Speakers page on the SAIL website for more details about all three speakers.
Cary Coglianese is the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science and the founding Director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches courses in administrative law, environmental law, regulatory law and policy, and policy analysis.
He specializes in the study of administrative law and regulatory policy, with an emphasis on the design and evaluation of alternative processes and strategies and the role of public participation, technology, and business-government relations in policymaking.
Alex Dimakis is a Professor at UC Berkeley in the EECS department. He is a founding member and research thrust leader at the NSF AI Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning (NSF IFML) and the co-founder and Chief Scientist at Bespoke Labs AI, focused on creating AI tools for data curation and post-training LLMs. His research interests include Generative AI, Information Theory and Machine Learning.
Alex has published more than 150 papers and received several awards, including the James Massey Award, NSF Career, a Google research award, the UC Berkeley Eli Jury dissertation award, and several best paper awards. He is an IEEE Fellow for contributions to distributed coding and learning.
Robert Grey is the Director of Sustainable Future, overseeing five business units at the Plug and Play Tech Center: Agtech, Animal Health, Food & Beverage, New Materials & Packaging, and Sustainability. Over the course of his career, he has tackled large-scale challenges in human health, water efficiency, agricultural productivity, and ecosystem resilience, gaining a deep understanding of corporate innovation through cross-border business development.
Plug and Play is one of the most active investors and startup accelerators in the world, and the leading open innovation platform working with more than 600 corporate partners and 100 university partners. It is particularly distinguished by regular university engagement to help bridge the gap between research and translation.
New Programming for SAIL 2025: Partner Showcase and Graduate Student Workshop
In the June issue of AIVO News, we announced a new track for SAIL 2025 – the Partner Showcase on October 22.
The invite-only Partner Showcase is an opportunity for Institute partners and prospective partners to connect with the vanguards of AI and witness trailblazing research. Learn more about the Partner Showcase on the SAIL website: http://sail2025.aiinstitutes.org/.
Looking for resources for inviting your Institute’s partners or prospective partners to the Partner Showcase? Email NSF AIVO at aivo@ucdavis.edu.
The Partner Showcase is only one of the new tracks at SAIL 2025! The invite-only Graduate Student Workshop is also debuting at this year’s conference. Graduate students and postdocs nominated by their Institute to attend SAIL can:
- Meet with AI Institute leadership and other industry experts and partners.
- See current research results across all AI Institutes – witness the progress we’re making across science and society firsthand.
- Talk with other student researchers – meet the next generation of AI pioneers and leaders.
- Share their poster and short video. Videos will be shown at the start of sessions throughout SAIL.
Students and postdocs interested in attending should contact their Institute’s leadership for a referral. Learn more about the Graduate Student Workshop, including students’ requirements to receive funding, on the SAIL website.
Two graduate students/postdocs per Institute can be nominated for AIVO-funded attendance. Institutes interested in nominating a grad student or postdoc should email NSF AIVO at aivo@ucdavis.edu.
STILL NEED TO REGISTER FOR SAIL?
Summit for AI Institutes Leadership (SAIL)
October 21–23, 2025
Hyatt Regency Reston
1800 Presidents Street
Reston, VA 20190
http://sail2025.aiinstitutes.org/
SAIL registration is open, and we extended our best rate to September 15!
- General Registration
- In person (through September 15, 2025) = $400
- Remote = $150
- In person (starting September 16, 2025) = $500
- Partner Registration (By invite only)
- Full SAIL Conference for Partners (October 21–23, 2025, in-person only) = $400
- Partner Showcase Day Only (October 22, 2025, in-person only) = $200
HOTEL ROOM BOOKING – HYATT REGENCY RESTON
The conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency Reston. Hotel room booking at the Hyatt Regency Reston is available on the SAIL registration website, for the group rate of $319 per night. A government rate is also available on the SAIL registration website.
Please book your room early before our room block gets filled up!
A Successful Summer Graduate Fellow Program Symposium
The AI4Ed Summer Graduate Fellowship Symposium was held August 18–19, 2025 at the Illini Center in Chicago, IL! The well-attended event concluded the 12-week program led by NSF iSAT, NSF AI-ALOE, NSF EngageAI, NSF AI4ExceptionalEd, and NSF INVITE, which form the AI for Education SIG.
NSF AIVO sponsored 15 graduate students to collaborate on innovative applications of AI in education – and find new ways to integrate AI into an education or training setting. In five cross-Institute teams, they devised solutions to advance AI in education.
“I was truly impressed by AIVO’s summer program for AI in Education, which embraced an interdisciplinary approach. AI in Education is a complex field that demands a deep understanding of people, technology, and design. AIVO’s vision and mission strongly resonated with me, and I look forward to seeing these kinds of research endeavors grow in the future.”
— Joon Kum, Master’s student at Georgia Tech University and Summer Fellow from AI-ALOE.
Student Spotlight: David Hunt, Duke University
Next-Level Security, Sensing, and Autonomy in Radar Technology
AIVO recently caught up with David Hunt, PhD candidate at Duke University, who works with the NSF AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next-generation Networks (NSF Athena).
We talked about his work with Athena on radar-based autonomy, a perfect fit with the Institute’s goal to transform the design, operation, and services of future mobile devices and networked systems! Read the post.
September 19: Awareness Training for Using Artificial Intelligence for Building and Road Damage Assessment from Drone Imagery
Emergency management professionals will soon have the opportunity to explore how to use AI for building and road damage assessment, from drone imagery. No prior experience or knowledge of AI is required for the two-hour training.
Experts Tom Manzini, Stephen Johnson, and Robin Murphy will cover the practical skills needed to correctly interpret Texas A&M’s CLARKE Damage Assessment Software.
Registration details will be posted on the NSF AIVO website when available.
About the CLARKE System
First used by FL UAS1 during Hurricanes Debby and Helene, the system uses computer vision and ML to classify visual damage, processing an orthomosaic image of 2,000 houses in roughly 7 minutes on a standard video gamer laptop. The road damage assessment option also comes with a Google Maps–like route planner that shows the best routes to bypass road damage and fastest routes through damage.
New Resource: LinkedIn Tip Sheet
Looking for some quick tips to increase your Institute’s LinkedIn following? Check out our LinkedIn tip sheet on the AIVO Intraweb (log in required).
Interested in getting a tip sheet on another communications topic? Complete the Request Communications Consultation form to make your request.
AIVO Communications Office Hours Available On-Demand
AIVO Communications Office Hours are now on demand! Complete the Request Communications Consultation form to schedule an individual or group consultation or to request communications support.
If you’re interested in training or resources on a particular communications topic, please let us know.
NSF AI-SDM Fall 2025 Seminar Series Starts September 18
Fall is upon us, and it’s time for the next NSF AI-SDM Seminar Series!
Don’t miss Co-Director, NSF AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (NSF ARIA), Suresh Venkatasubramanian on Thursday, September 18, 12:00–1:30 pm (EDT). Learn more about Suresh and register for his seminar.
NSF ARIA is one of two new Institutes that NSF announced on July 29, 2025. Read the announcement post.
Visit the NSF AI-SDM Seminar Series page to watch any sessions you might’ve missed. And while you’re on the NSF AI-SDM website, you can register for upcoming Seminar Series sessions now.
Happenings in the Ed4AI Program
Throughout August, the Ed4AI program has continued to gain traction. Camille Woods, AIVO’s Instructional Designer, has wrapped up a first round of insightful interviews with education leaders across several AI Institutes. These conversations are shaping a clearer picture of the innovative educational efforts underway — and how AIVO can support them through instructional design.
We’re now in the design and content curation phase for the AI Education Resource Portal, set to launch this fall. The Portal will serve as a centralized hub for accessing, sharing, and celebrating the educational resources produced by the AI Institutes, along with trusted content from across the broader AI education landscape.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to feature this work — and yours — at the Ed4AI Workshop at SAIL on October 21, 2025. Stay tuned as we prepare to showcase the collective impact of the Institutes’ education efforts!
