Welcome to AIVO News! Our newsletter features projects, events, and opportunities within the AI Institutes Virtual Organization community.
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February 2025 Issue
Table of Contents:
- Google.org Grant Activities
- Ed4AI Funding Requests Have Commenced
- New SIG: AI4Ed
- New Slack Channel for Cyberinfrastructure Resource Questions
- Silver Lining for Learning Podcast Featuring AI-ALOE
- AI-ALOE Webinar on National Tutoring Observatory
- New Semester of AI-SDM Seminar Series
- Student Spotlight: Natalie McCaffery, Colorado State University
- Deadlines Approaching: Summer Research Opportunities for Undergrads
- AgAID Undergraduate Research Internship Program
- Research Experience for Undergraduates in Translational Applications of AI to Engineering (REU-TrACE) with TrAC
- AIVO Job Opening
Google.org Grant Activities
As announced in the December 2024 issue of AIVO News, AIVO was awarded a $1.75M grant from Google.org, the philanthropic division of Google. The Google.org grant is funding two new programs:
- Ed4AI: Helps all 27 AI Institutes individually and collectively to improve education, outreach, and workforce development.
- AI4Ed: Supports the five Education AI Institutes individually and collectively.
Ed4AI Funding Requests Have Commenced
Ed4AI is rolling out with the release of the Ed4AI interest form. All 27 Institutes can use the triage form to request prior approval for activities which will involve education about AI, and the subsequent reimbursements for related expenses.
The activity can be a workshop, public expo, outreach, or similar activity or event that helps to educate various audiences about AI. AIVO will reimburse the researcher personally up to the amount approved if there is travel involved and can also help with activity-related costs such as venue reservations and payments, if needed.
Please refer to the triage form for applicable requirements and information on the approval process. As always, email AIVO (aivo@ucdavis.edu) with any questions.
New SIG: AI4Ed
The AI for Education (AI4Ed) program supports the five education AI Institutes – iSAT, AI-ALOE, EngageAI, AI4ExceptionalEd, and INVITE – both individually and collectively.
The newest SIG brings those five education AI Institutes together to:
- Discuss shared goals and identify potential collaborative efforts
- Share resources related to using AI and education
- Organize and plan AI in Education events, such as conferences and workshops
- Discuss emerging research topics in AI education that are relevant to the five education Institutes
The working group builds on two productive half-day meetings held at SAIL 2023 and SAIL 2024, where each Institute gave updates on research and identified specific points of collaboration. Learn more about the AI4Ed SIG on the AI for Education page on the AIVO website.
Stay tuned for updates on AI4Ed activities sponsored by the Google.org grant.
New Slack Channel for Cyberinfrastructure Resource Questions
Access to national advanced computing resources is available to U.S.-based researchers and educators, at no cost!
If you have any questions about the cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources you can access, or would like to discuss the needs of your research group, now there’s an internal Slack channel to get your questions answered.
Post a message in #cyberinfrastructure-needs.
You can also join an office hours session to discuss how you can leverage CI resources (e.g., CPU, GPU, Cloud computing cycles). Registration is open for these sessions:
- February 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EST
- March 14, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
- March 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. EDT
The office hours sessions will feature offerings from the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, and the NSF-funded CloudBank resource. Get your questions answered by experts on the various initiatives.
Silver Lining for Learning Podcast Featuring AI-ALOE
Tune into Silver Lining for Learning (SLL)! The latest episode, “The National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE): Featuring Jill Watson” aired February 15, 2025.
Watch the latest podcast featuring AI-ALOE to learn about the Institute’s “[leadership] in developing cutting-edge AI applications for improving online adult education. These efforts are bidirectional – AI is used to transform online adult learning and online adult learning to transform AI. These transformations are not “just doing things better” but “doing better things” in effectiveness, efficiency, access, scale, and personalization.”
SLL is an ongoing conversation on the future of learning to discuss the creation of equitable, humanistic, and sustainable learning ecosystems that meet the needs of all learners. These education-focused AI Institutes have been highlighted:
Most podcasts are hosted on YouTube Saturdays, 5:30–6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Read the SLL post on the AIVO website to learn more.
AI-ALOE Webinar on National Tutoring Observatory
AI-ALOE recently sponsored a webinar about the National Tutoring Observatory (NTO).
The NTO aims to advance the science of learning and teaching by providing a large-scale dataset of tutors’ and teachers’ improvisational moves, such as unplanned responses to challenging questions and spontaneous interactions with students who are struggling, frustrated, bored, or disengaged.
Coupled with data on how those improvisational moves affect student learning, this information is invaluable in improving learning outcomes and developing AI tools for teaching and learning!
Read the post on the AIVO website to learn more about NTO and access the webinar recording.
New Semester of AI-SDM Seminar Series
A new semester of AI-SDM seminars is underway! Check out these upcoming seminars:
- Friday, February 28, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time | Ananya Rao
- Friday, March 21, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time | Terri Adams
- Friday, April 4, 2025 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time | Deb Roy
- Friday, April 11, 2025 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time | Rayid Ghani
- Friday, April 25, 2025 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time | Tom Griffiths
- Friday, May 9, 2025 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time | Giacomo De Nicola
Visit the Featured AI-SDM Events webpage to register for upcoming seminars.
If you missed any seminars, you can catch up via the Seminar Video Library on the AI-SDM website.
Student Spotlight: Natalie McCaffery, Colorado State University
On “Integrating AI Education Through Food Systems and Climate Change Curriculum”
AIVO recently caught up with Natalie McCaffery, MS student and Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University. We talked about her work with the AI Institute for Climate-Land Interactions, Mitigation, Adaptation, Tradeoffs and Economy (AI-CLIMATE).
Read the excerpt of our interview to learn about her award-winning project on “Integrating AI Education Through Food Systems and Climate Change Curriculum”.
Deadlines Approaching: Summer Research Opportunities for Undergrads
Do you know any undergraduates looking for an educational program this summer? There’s still time to apply for these two research programs working with AI Institutes:
AgAID Undergraduate Research Internship Program
Deadline to apply: February 28, 2025
The Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support (AgAID) is hosting an eight-week undergraduate research internship (URI) program, providing undergrads with an opportunity to work at the interface of cutting-edge AI technologies and agricultural applications.
Students with these interests are encouraged to apply: developing or applying AI tools for improved water resource modeling and improved decision-making on farms, creative robotics solutions for agricultural automation, and investigating how to take the latest AI tools and algorithmic principles and put them into practice to solve real-world, challenging tasks.
The URI program runs from June 9 to August 1, 2025. It includes a stipend, travel and housing support, career development and mentoring, the chance to build science communication skills and to work on a research project as part of a collaborative team of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, staff, and faculty.
Learn more about the URI program on the AgAID website, including program details and requirements.
Research Experience for Undergraduates in Translational Applications of AI to Engineering (REU-TrACE) with TrAC
Deadline to apply: March 1, 2025
The Translational AI Center (TrAC), which houses the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA), is hosting an REU program at Iowa State University!
The program’s research goals and activities align with the mission of TrAC and AIIRA. Focusing on AI applied across a variety of fields, students in the program will engage in interdisciplinary projects, acquiring skills to prepare them for graduate school and develop professionally. The program runs from May 27 to August 1, 2025.
Students will receive faculty and staff mentorship, accumulate research and presentation experience, participate in shared cohort experiences, including field trips, and workshops/seminars, and have the opportunity to grow their professional networks.
In addition, the 10-week program includes a stipend, campus apartment housing, the Iowa State University meal plan, and a round-trip airfare and travel allowance. View the flyer to learn more.
Explore the opportunity on the TrAC website, including details on eligibility and learning outcomes.
AIVO Job Opening
We’re looking for more team members! Please help us spread the word about this opening, based at the University of California, Davis (UCD).
Within the UCD Office of Research, the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS) is a department that is the lead organization for grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Google.org, funding the AI Institutes Virtual Organization (AIVO).
AIVO coordinates programs that benefit all 27 national AI Institutes, comprising over 100 universities across the country and several hundred faculty and student researchers.
AIVO Instructional Designer for AI Education (apply by March 1, 2025)
The AIVO Instructional Designer collects information about all Institutes’ AI education material in various formats and organizes it, identifying quality instructional material for aggregation into a common portal. The eventual goal is to post an organized suite of AI education materials on a centralized portal for use by all Institutes and the public in general.
This position may also be asked to support synergistic efforts of the Institutes, such as the delivery of smaller-scale, live instructional events.
This role will work with other AIFS staff involved with AIVO in the execution of these goals, including programmers, communications and marketing coordinators, program assistants, a graphic designer, and an events coordinator. Additionally, this position:
- Provides support to other AIFS staff and contractors as needed.
- Supports project implementation, evaluation, research and analysis.
- Implements and maintains project plans and timelines, communications and schedules.
