Faculty receive funding to integrate AI in the classroom

Published November 6, 2024

Following a successful first year, the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs has again dedicated $50,000 for the 2024-25 academic year to fund seed grants enabling full-time faculty across the campus to integrate generative AI into course and curricular redesign.

And in a new development, five grant recipients from the initial 2023-24 round of seed funding will receive additional awards this year through a new fellows program.

The AI seed grant program awards funding of up to $5,000 for selected project proposals. Recipients for 2024-25 and their projects are:

  • Eduardo Mercado, Psychology, “Fostering Critical Prompting in Response to Scientific Pronouncements of LLMs.”
  • Paul Feigenbaum, English, “Integrating Generative AI in Discipline-Specific (CL2) Writing Courses.”
  • Joyce Lacy, Psychology, “Using Artificial Intelligence to Elucidate Patterns of Instructor Course Evaluation Data Across an Institution.”
  • Melissa McCarron, Romance Languages and Literatures, “Bridging Cultures Through AI: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Ethical Health Communication.”
  • Presentacion Rivera Reyes, Engineering Education, “Improving Troubleshooting Problem-Solving Skills Assisted with AI Technology (TPS+AI).”
  • Kelin Luo, Computer Science and Engineering, “LLM-Enhanced Proof Assistant for Advanced Graduate Algorithm Course.”
  • Ahmet Orgev, Restorative Dentistry, “Machine learning AI alignment of prosthesis design using VR googles.”
  • Adaias Matos, Restorative Dentistry, “Generative AI-Driven Transformation in Fixed Prosthodontics Lectures: Enhancing Teaching and Assessment.”
  • Stuart Inglis, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, “AnatomyGPT: Development and Deployment of a Fine-Tuned Large Language Model Interface for the Anatomy Lab.”
  • Nicholas Fusco, Pharmacy Practice, “Online Simulations for Health Professions Students to Address Vaccine Hesitancy.”

Faculty Fellows for AI in the Classroom

Building on the success of the AI seed grants initiative, the Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation has introduced a new faculty fellows program that provides additional $5,000 awards for five recipients of the AI seed grants to support their continued work through the current academic year.

The Faculty Fellows for AI in the Classroom initiative will help to build out a community of instructional innovators within the evolving AI space. In addition to continuing with their AI projects, the fellows will take part in events that spotlight their innovative work, attend Community of Practice events for the 2024-25 seed funding recipients, and develop and submit a comprehensive project assessment plan.

The faculty fellows and their pojects are:

  • Jaekyung Lee, Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, “The Synergy of Socrates and ChatGPT: Reinventing Seminar Course with AI Technology.”
  • Barbara Avila-Shah, Romance Languages and Literature, “AI as a Romance Ally.”
  • Dominic Sellitto, Management Sciences and Systems, “EASE (Educational AI Support for Everyone).”
  • Nathalia Pavia de Andrade, Periodontics and Endodontics, “Transforming Periodontal and Dental Care Powered by Artificial Intelligence.”
  • Kevin Cleary, Management Science and System, “Visualizing the Guts of Generative Pre-Transforms (GPTs) and Large Language Models (LLMs).”

For further information, visit CATT’s website.