UB awarded $10 million grant to lead new national center on early literacy and responsible AI

UB researchers have been awarded a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to establish the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI (CELaRAI).

The Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI will focus on harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform early literacy instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners in kindergarten through second-grade classrooms across the nation, including Buffalo Public Schools and Erie 1 BOCES schools.

“The University at Buffalo is a leader powering technological advancement and AI innovation related to improving education. Thanks to this $10 million in federal funding, UB can establish a new Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI to help kids in Western New York and beyond learn to read,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. “Earlier this year, I helped UB establish a new National AI Research Institute and open a new $20 million federally funded National AI Institute for Exceptional Education to help children with disabilities learn to speak. That is on top of making the region a federal tech hub to build the area’s tech workforce.

“Now,” Schumer said, “UB can continue to use its top-notch AI research facilities to help the next generation grow and thrive, and further position upstate New York as a national hub for innovation.”

“This significant award from the Department of Education underscores UB’s longstanding national and international leadership in artificial intelligence,” said President Satish K. Tripathi. “In our Graduate School of Education and across disciplines, more than 200 faculty are leveraging the power of AI, all with the aim of contributing meaningfully to the greater good. By helping young learners thrive and setting them up for future success, we will transform the lives of children, families and communities in ways that transcend metrics.

“On behalf of our grateful scholarly community, I would like to thank Senate Majority Leader Schumer, a dedicated friend and champion of UB whose steadfast support of our university is enabling us to make a profound impact on the communities we serve.”

Led by X. Christine Wang, professor of learning and instruction in the Graduate School of Education, the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI aims to address a critical need to improve beginning reading skills of students, with an emphasis on students from underrepresented and underserved communities. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 33% of fourth-graders achieved proficiency in reading comprehension in the U.S. in 2022, a shortfall predominantly affecting low-income, Black, Latinx and other marginalized students.

The grant further strengthens UB’s national leadership in AI research. For example, the grant builds on the momentum generated by UB’s National AI Institute for Exceptional Education, where Wang and co-principal investigator Jinjun Xiong, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor, serve in leadership roles. In addition, New York State’s Empire AI, a $400 million statewide consortium and supercomputing center that will be housed at UB, further enhanced the project’s feasibility and viability.

“As our community in Western New York becomes more diverse, this $10 million grant will empower the University at Buffalo to conduct AI research that will address the literacy needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students,” said Rep. Tim Kennedy. “The Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI will create an equal playing field for the next generation of children across the country, including at Buffalo Public Schools and Erie 1 BOCES schools. I applaud the university as it continues to lead in AI nationally.”

The Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI will develop a tool called AIRE, or AI Reading Enhancer, to support K-2 students in independent reading by generating personalized text, providing real-time reading analysis and offering just-in-time literacy support. AIRE will focus on improving key literacy skills such as phonics, word recognition, fluency and comprehension.

“We believe that, with the right support, all students — regardless of their backgrounds — can succeed in literacy,” said Wang, who is also director of the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center at UB. “Our goal is to create opportunities for all students, particularly those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds whose educational needs are often not fully met by our education systems.”

Over the next five years, the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI will engage in three core activities:

• Researching and developing the AIRE tool through a national survey, user-centered studies and an efficacy study.
• Addressing the ethical challenges of AI use in schools by developing responsible AI guidelines.
• Offering national leadership in responsible AI and early literacy through research dissemination and capacity-building initiatives.

The center’s research will be conducted in diverse urban, suburban and rural public elementary schools in New York, Michigan and North Carolina, serving students from low to mid-socioeconomic backgrounds.

“When educational tools are developed, it’s important to ask whose needs are being met — and whose are not,” Wang said. “Our center will pay special attention to ethical and responsible AI development and deployment to address bias and promote equity.”

The center’s multidisciplinary research and development efforts will focus on four key thrusts: AI, early literacy, AI ethics and learning sciences.

The center’s leadership includes Wang as principal investigator and nine co-PIs, including Christopher Hoadley, John Strong and Jaekyung Lee, all from UB’s Graduate School of Education, as well Xiong, who also serves as director of UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. Additional co-PIs include Tanya Chris, East Carolina University; Laura Tortorelli, Michigan State University; Sanmi Koyejo, Stanford University; Abeer Alwan, UCLA; and Dilek Hakkani Tur, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

UB has been a worldwide leader in artificial intelligence research and education for nearly 50 years. This includes pioneering work creating the world’s first autonomous handwriting recognition system, which the U.S. Postal Service and Royal Mail adopted to save billions of dollars. That legacy of innovation continues today. UB researchers are committed to using AI for social good, including developing new technology that addresses the shortage of speech-language pathologists in K-12 education, deepfakes, the need for improved medical imaging and more.

“UB’s reputation as a leader in AI research, thanks to initiatives like Empire AI, has provided critical support for this project,” Wang said. “The infrastructure UB has in place, as well as the collaborative spirit across disciplines, made this project possible.”

Wang also credited the support from Graduate School of Education Dean Suzanne Rosenblith and the strong collaboration with UB’s Office of Research Advancement (ORA). “The strategic planning within GSE to bolster AI and education research and the ORA team’s logistical support played pivotal roles in making this center a reality,” Wang said.

Rosenblith commended Wang and her collaborators for their development of a highly promising approach to enhancing foundational literacy skills for all learners.

“This award reflects the Graduate School of Education’s commitment to utilizing evidence-based approaches to addressing some of the most vexing educational challenges we face,” Rosenblith said. “Acknowledging that AI can be instrumental in improving foundational literacy skills could be a game-changer in how educators and schools approach early literacy instruction and support.

“I am also especially proud of the center’s focus on the responsible use of AI, a priority at UB. We are deeply indebted to the Institute of Education Sciences for its support and confidence in this project.”