Two Cornell professors are part of a team that has received a highly competitive supplemental funding award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the role of AI in research.
Associate Professor of Finance Huan Cai and Assistant Professor of Statistics Tyler George were awarded $19,500 to improve access to AI tools for teachers and researchers across Iowa. The team will use the funding to plan activities, hold lectures, attend conferences, and travel across the state to work with Iowa colleges and high schools.
One of their first events will be a SIG Lecture held on Jan. 29 at 11:10 a.m. in West Science 100, where Cornell faculty and students can learn about their new initiative.
“In rural areas at under-resourced institutions and regions, it is especially imperative to promote AI education and help develop an AI-capable workforce in our communities and in our society,” George said. “This includes making AI infrastructure and state-of-the-art AI tools available to researchers in various fields. However, many researchers lack guided access to these resources and the network connections to establish research collaborations in advancing AI research and using AI tools.”
That’s exactly what Cai and George want to change through the use of the grant. The project will leverage the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot program, which provides AI tools, data, training, and computing power to the next generation of researchers.
Some of those researchers include Cornell’s very own Cornell Summer Research Institute students. Cornellians will have the opportunity to take part in training workshops and work with faculty to apply for and access the NAIRR resources as part of their summer research.
Beyond campus, Cai and George will also travel to area high schools to present hands-on ways for teachers to use AI tools. They’ll also facilitate discussion around AI realities in the classroom and ethical concerns.
“By targeting students and educators at all levels, as well as researchers, our programs will jumpstart and help sustain Iowa into the modern AI world,” Cai said.
The results of this project will be open source and publicly available. The professors say they are looking forward to collaborating with other researchers and making a difference in Iowa.
“We will have opportunities to connect with other researchers in our community, explore AI resources and their applications on our research together, and help researchers in universities and small liberal arts colleges in sore need of AI education and research resources to gain access to datasets and computing power provided by NAIRR,” Cai said.
Cai and George are listed as co-primary investigators on the award, alongside Primary Investigator Weiyu Xu of the University of Iowa. The team hopes to take on this work for the next two years.