Project Grant 2615527

The National Science Foundation Division of Computing and Communication Foundations awarded the University of Maryland, College Park $539,184 on October 1, 2026, under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to explore tutoring-based models for teaching generative AI skills to non-computing majors across three institutions of higher education.

The project implements and evaluates three distinct approaches for providing campus-wide responsible, effective, and pedagogically sound (REPS-AI) support to students using generative AI tools in computational coursework. The three participating institutions—two large public R1 land-grant universities and one small liberal arts college—will serve as test sites for comparing the effectiveness of different AI tutoring methods tailored to students whose computational work spans fields including computational science, computational arts, and digital humanities rather than professional software development.

Performance runs through September 30, 2029, with work performed in College Park, Maryland. The University of Maryland, College Park, operating through its Office of Research Administration & Advancement, serves as the prime recipient. The project's core objective is to develop generalizable insights into AI tutoring methods and generate direct impacts across a wide range of U.S. students by laying intellectual and practical foundations to assist institutions in supporting all students in using generative AI tools responsibly and effectively for computational coursework.