Project Grant 2548125

The National Science Foundation Division of Computing and Communication Foundations awarded Old Dominion University Research Foundation $372,000 on October 1, 2026, to operate a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site focused on human-AI interaction and evaluation in web and information systems under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070).

The site recruits eight undergraduate students annually from regional and national universities to participate in a 10-week summer research program at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Students engage with human-AI interaction concepts, methods, and interfaces; develop tools and skills for accessing, cleaning, preprocessing, and visualizing diverse datasets including human-generated data, AI-generated data, and web-related data; and employ computational methods such as multimodal large language models and machine learning algorithms to build analytical and predictive model prototypes. The program produces new datasets, methods, models, and assessment tools addressing human-AI interaction research problems in health informatics, web data, and robotics. The site prioritizes expanding human-AI education to undergraduate participants from diverse backgrounds, including first-generation college students, preparing them for graduate studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through hands-on research, training, and publication experience.

The period of performance runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2029, with performance at Norfolk, Virginia.