Innovative AI learning technology projects win inaugural LIVE Spark Grants

LIVE, the Learning Innovation Incubator at Vanderbilt University, has awarded the inaugural LIVE Spark Grants to three interdisciplinary teams innovating cutting-edge learning technologies that leverage AI to advance literacy, music education and aid in the care of people with dementia. Selected from a strong pool of applicants, the winning projects and their investigators show exceptional promise for addressing critical learning challenges:

Bringing AIDA, an Artificially Intelligent Dialogic Reading Aid, from Prototype to MVP

Amy Booth, Georgene Troseth, Margaret Shavlik (Peabody College)

Abigail Petulante (Data Science Institute)

Toward an Artificial Intelligence-Based Music Tutor

Will Hedgecock (Institute for Software Integrated Systems)

Pascal Le Boeuf (Blair School of Music)

Preliminary Design of a Generative AI-Based Intelligent Assistant for Dementia Care

Nilanjan Sarkar (School of Engineering)

Shilo Anders (Vanderbilt University Medical Center; School of Engineering)

Amy Booth

Georgene Troseth

Margaret Shavlik

Abigail Petulante

Will Hedgecock

Pascal LeBoeuf

Nilanjan Sarkar

Shilo Anders

“I am thrilled that the 2024 LIVE Spark Grants will support these highly interdisciplinary collaborative teams. Each pursues a novel application of AI to empower diverse learners and has demonstrated the potential to scale and sustain their projects for widespread impact. I extend my deepest congratulations to these teams and am eager to celebrate their future successes with them,” said Alyssa Wise, director of LIVE and professor of technology and education at Peabody College of education and human development.

About LIVE Spark Grants

LIVE Sparks Grants provide up to $10,000 and critical resources to winning teams, including access to specialized expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, and collaborative networks. They reinforce LIVE’s commitment to foster interdisciplinary collaboration that yields transformative learning technologies.  All full-time Vanderbilt faculty and research scientists are eligible as principal and co-principal investigators, and teams must be interdisciplinary, typically inclusive of members from at least two different departments.

Proposed projects can seek to support learners from any age and through a variety of learning contexts.  Successful proposals include advanced planning for effective application within schools, communities, and industry or through an entrepreneurial model. LIVE encourages proposals that include novel applications of emerging learning technologies, particularly those that explore the use of AI and analytics to improve learning or training.

About LIVE

Vanderbilt’s LIVE Innovation Incubator brings together interdisciplinary teams of researchers and strategic partners to develop cutting-edge learning innovations. By fusing advanced computational methods and AI with inventive teaching and learning approaches, LIVE helps empower individuals, communities, and organizations to navigate a complex and rapidly evolving world.