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March 2025 AIVO Newsletter

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Welcome to AIVO News! Our newsletter features projects, events, and opportunities within the AI Institutes Virtual Organization community.

March 2025 Issue

Table of Contents:


Call for Ed4AI Funding Requests

Ed4AI has rolled out with the release of the Ed4AI interest form! 

All 27 Institutes are welcome to use the triage form to request prior approval for activities that 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. 

Thanks to our Google.org grant, AIVO will reimburse the researcher or staff member 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. 

Please refer to the triage form for applicable requirements and information on the approval process, and email AIVO at aivo@ucdavis.edu with any questions.

Hyatt Regency Reston, VA -- location of SAIL 2025


SAIL 2025 Update

This year’s Summit for AI Institutes Leadership (SAIL) conference will be held in the Washington D.C. area, in Reston, VA, October 21–23, 2025. Both in-person and online attendance options will be available.

The SAIL 2025 planning committee will be working on the SAIL program over the next several months.We’re planning for a few new types of sessions in the program to provide additional engagement opportunities. 

Following a successful AIVO presence and engagement at EAAI during the AAAI conference, we’re discussing with EAAI an opportunity to hold an adjacent workshop on education about AI during the workshops and SIGs day (Day 1 of SAIL). 

Read more about AIVO at EAAI in the article, “Birds of a Feather Meeting at EAAI.”

SAIL 2025
October 21–23, 2025
Hyatt Regency Reston
Reston, VA

Five Ag AI Institutes at 2025 Agricultural Outlook Forum


2025 Agricultural Outlook Forum

The five agricultural AI Institutes participated in a joint table at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum in Arlington, VA on February 27. 

Key USDA staff were in attendance, including Deputy Under Secretary of the USDA Research, Education, and Economics (REE) division, Spiro Stefanou, who spoke with the project managers of the Institutes at the joint table. 

It was noteworthy that of about 30 exhibitors over two days, the Ag AI Institutes were the only non-internal USDA group to exhibit, which is a testimony to the recognition by USDA of the importance of the AI Institutes!


Birds of a Feather Meeting at EAAI

Held in conjunction with the AAAI meeting, the EAAI (Educational Advances in AI) meeting provides an opportunity for focused discussion on AI in education and education about AI. 

This year’s symposium in Philadelphia, PA March 1–2 allowed for a new engagement in a Birds of a Feather session. The 30 EAAI members present met with AIVO representatives, including Holly Yanco, Steve Brown, and other EAAI and AIVO members wearing both hats, to review the spectrum of resources available. 

The group discussed ways to collaborate on the AIVO Google.org Ed4AI program grant. Early planning has begun for a workshop during SAIL 2025 for EAAI representatives outside of AIVO, with the goal of collaborating on a robust, curated, tagged, and organized repository of learning materials for AI. The workshop would occur co-located with SAIL during the Workshop and SIGs day (Day 1 of SAIL on October 21, 2025).

AI AgriBench image


New Generative AI Benchmarking Consortium

On March 6, 2025, the Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) announced a new consortium, AI AgriBench!

The goal of the new public consortium is to provide farmers, policymakers, and the public with trustworthy mechanisms to evaluate and achieve high confidence in the new generation of digital agronomy tools emerging worldwide, ensuring these services deliver on their promise of valuable and accurate technical information to farmers and Ag professionals everywhere.

Read the “CDA Announces New GenAI Benchmarking Consortium” post on the AIVO website to learn more, including how to become a contributing member and sign up for their mailing list.

Dalia Cervantes, AIVO Program Analyst


New AIVO Staff Members

AIVO has begun staffing up in support of the Google.org grant! On March 13, our new Program Analyst, Dalia Cervantes, joined the AIVO team. Welcome, Dalia!

AIVO Program Analyst

Dalia is a Northern California native with a strong policy, research, and advocacy background. She has been involved in campaign work, research, and administrative roles – including work as an Intern for the University of California (UC) Academic Team in Washington, D.C., a Campaign Assistant for the City of Woodland (CA), and as a Student Researcher at UC Santa Cruz. Dalia also gained operational experience as a UC Santa Barbara postal worker. She holds a BA in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara.

Passionate about policy and community engagement, Dalia will employ her project management, data analysis, and research skills in the Program Analyst position.

To Be Hired: AIVO Instructional Designer and AIVO Programmer

To help support the Google.org grant, an instructional designer and a programmer will be joining the AIVO team next. Stay tuned for more announcements on our Google.org grant activities!


Symposium at AERA Annual Meeting to Feature AI Institutes

Three AI Institutes — the AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (iSAT), AI Institute for Engaged Learning (EngageAI), and the AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE) — will present a symposium at the upcoming AERA Annual Meeting, which is being held April 23–27, 2025 in Denver, CO.

Entitled “Next-Generation Educational AI from Three NSF-funded National AI Institutes,” the session will convey AI-Augmented Learning research results from the three Institutes. Their respective Principal Scientists will each share their findings to date, challenges they face, and planned next steps. The major themes in AI and education among these Institutes include AI-based agents that interact with instructors and learners, participatory design, a focus on motivation as well as learning, ethical use of AI, and modification of initial research plans to include the rapid evolution of generative AI.

Stay tuned for a post-event article in an upcoming issue of AIVO News.


Application Deadline for the ARNI and Neuromatch NeuroAI Course: March 30

Please help us spread the word about this course! Qualified students and teaching assistants are encouraged to apply.

NeuroAI is an advanced course that explores key system features that impact generalization, including task structure, microcircuitry, macrocircuitry or architecture, learning rules, and data streams. 

Participants are afforded the opportunity to join a global community of experts and peers, enhance their problem-solving abilities, and build a supportive network that champions accessibility to quality science education for everyone. The synchronous virtual format allows for global participation!

ARNI and Neuromatch NeuroAI Course
July 14–25, 2025
Course format: Synchronous virtual
Application deadline: Sunday, March 30, 2025 (at midnight in the applicant’s time zone)

Requirements:

  • Students
    • Familiarity with Python
    • Foundational science skills in math
    • Completion of NMA CN and DL courses or equivalent. (This is an advanced course.)
  • Teaching Assistants
    • Strong Python skills
    • Background in neuroscience and AI

Learn more and apply.


Call for "Student Spotlights"

In the February issue of AIVO News, we introduced a new feature article, the Student Spotlight. 

We’re excited to continue featuring 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.

27 AI Institutes' logos


Communications Resources from AIVO

AIVO can provide communications support for the AI Institutes in a number of areas. If you’re interested in training or resources on a particular topic, please let us know! Send your requested topics to aivo@ucdavis.edu.

Examples of communications topics include:

  • Social Media Best Practices
  • Website Best Practices
  • Strategic Communications Plan Basics
  • Best Practices for Working with the Media
  • Newsletter Production Best Practices

Most of those topics were covered during the SAIL 2024 “Institute Outreach and Communication Best Practices” panel. Visit the AIVO Intraweb to watch the recording of that SAIL 2024 session.

AIVO Communications Office Hours


AIVO Communications Office Hours are in full swing. Drop by a monthly session if you’re looking for communications support, such as:

  • Learning how to increase your Institute’s LinkedIn following
  • Getting a feature article placed in AIVO News or on the AIVO website, advice on your messaging for feature articles and press releases, or help drafting a communications plan
  • Requesting a review of your draft communications or writing/editing support for your Institute’s communications
  • Asking a communications-related question

Or join the session to give us a referral for the “Student Spotlight” series or feedback/suggestions about AIVO communications.

Next Sessions

  • Friday, April 18, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00–2:00 p.m. EDT
  • Friday, May 16, 2025, 10:00–11:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00–2:00 p.m. EDT

Calendar invitations will be sent upon request to aivo@ucdavis.edu.

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