Collaborative Research: ReDDDoT Phase 1: Planning Grant: AI Summer Institute on Communities

This project funds an AI Summer Institute on Communities (AISIC), a collaboration between New York University and North Central College. This project addresses key challenges for undergraduate students entering the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) workforce in industry, government, or the nonprofit sector. These challenges include broadening participation in technology innovation, identifying and preventing potential technology harms in/on underrepresented communities, meaningfully and equitably engaging underrepresented communities in developing new technologies, and developing new methodologies for translating local knowledge for the purposes of equitable technology design and deployment.

Through in-person workshops, experiential learning activities, collaborative projects, and engagement with industry and community leaders, AISIC will equip undergraduates entering the AI workforce with critical literacies in both the social and technical dimensions of AI and related technologies so they are able to develop strategies for the responsible design, development and deployment of technology.

Through AISIC, the project aims to create a dynamic environment where students can gain the necessary skills to lead with empathy, ethics, and equity in the development of AI technologies, ensuring these advancements contribute positively to all segments of society, especially those historically and disproportionately harmed by computing technologies. A year-long planning process for the AISIC is critical to ensure its success, relevance, and impact.

The project team will conduct the necessary planning to launch AISIC, which at full scale will be a six-week, residential program at North Central College (Naperville, Illinois). During the planning phase, the project will assess needs, identify stakeholders, develop key AISIC partners, build curriculum, address logistical and infrastructural needs, develop recruitment and marketing materials for selecting a diverse participant pool, and execute a limited pilot.

The pilot will entail launching a set of exemplary workshops, soliciting participant feedback via pre- and post-test surveys and focus groups. Findings from the pilot will be used to reshape relevant program components in preparation for full implementation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.