New AI Grants to Help Drive Innovation at SJSU

Three SJSU research teams will study AI in their respective fields thanks to grants from Learning Lab’s AI FAST Challenge. Photo by Robert C. Bain.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape our technological future, San José State University continues to increase its contributions to the field. Three SJSU research teams were recently awarded grant funding by Learning Lab’s AI Funding for Accelerated Study and Transformation (FAST) Challenge, which was designed to “support nimble, innovative research and development projects within California’s public higher education system.”

SJSU teams make up three of the chosen 25 grants, which were selected from a set of 61 proposals. Their enterprising spirit and dedication to their students may help shape the future of AI. Below is a bird’s-eye view of their three projects.

• $150,000 for SpartanAI: Elevating Course Design with Faculty and Student-Centric AI Agent, awarded to Yingjie Liu, lead instructional designer of the Center for Faculty Excellence and Teaching Innovation (CFETI); Magdalini Eirinaki, professor of computer engineering and program director of the master’s degree in AI program, and Wencen Wu, associate professor of computer engineering and coordinator of extended studies for the AI graduate program, in collaboration with Deborah Adair, chief executive officer of Quality Matters and Barbra Burch, Quality Matters manager of research and development. 

The funding will be used to advance the development and use of AI in California’s public higher education system, with the goal of improving student outcomes statewide. The grant is expected to transform teaching and learning by leveraging AI-driven insights and student-centered feedback to empower faculty with innovative, equitable course design tools and resources. In collaboration with Quality Matters (QM), this work also seeks to establish a broader framework for effective AI-human collaboration in course design.

“We are honored to partner with QM to take an exciting step forward in shaping the future of online education,” says Liu. “This collaboration is not just about AI — it’s about establishing a strong framework for effective AI-human collaboration in course design and review, ensuring that online education thrives in the AI-driven era.”

“This partnership between SJSU and Quality Matters allows us to thoughtfully engage both faculty and students to understand and advance AI-enhanced education, combining artificial intelligence with human expertise to effectively and efficiently provide quality online learning,” concludes Quality Matters CEO Deborah Adair.

• $150,000 for GenAI as Coding Tutor to Support First Year Engineering Students, awarded to Maria Chierichetti, associate chair and associate professor of aerospace engineering, and Radha Aravamudhan, lecturer in aerospace engineering.

As Chierichetti explains, this project “integrates an AI coding tutor for an introductory programming course targeting first-year engineering students with limited exposure to programming.” The AI tutor will serve about 150 students, enhancing learning by “providing personalized, real-time feedback and guidance on coding assignments and making high-quality programming resources accessible to all” and “offering instructors valuable insights into student progress and learning challenges, enabling tailored lessons.”

Both PIs are excited for what lies ahead. “I am looking forward to understanding how AI tools can support teaching, learning and our students with the personalized guidance and attention they deserve (which is often not possible to offer due to larger class enrollment),” says Chierichetti. “I’m also interested in learning more about the limitations of AI tools in teaching, so that we can be more aware of the challenges of incorporating advanced technology as part of our pedagogical choices.”

“The introductory programming class has traditionally had high DFW [the percentage of Ds, Fs and withdraws in a course] rates and equity gaps; and as the instructor I have been looking at various pedagogical concepts to reduce the DFW rate as well as close equity gaps,” says Aravamudhan. “With the increase in awareness and use of AI tools, I’m excited to use it in a way that benefits student learning. The grant allows us to explore this innovative approach that could provide personalized, continuous support to students from underrepresented backgrounds. I am excited to see how the tool helps students engage more in their learning and also the impact it has on their self-confidence and motivation.”

• $200,000 for Cost-effective, Bespoke Adaptive Tutoring using Open Source Tools and GenAI awarded to Zachary Pardos, associate professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley, and his co-PIs Tim Hsu, professor of mathematics at SJSU, and Clement Lam, dean of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Mission College.

With this program, as Hsu explains, researchers led by Pardos at UC Berkeley are trying to reduce the cost of a custom adaptive tutoring system to “an almost negligible amount (i.e., nearly $0), using generative AI. All materials produced and technology used will be shared with an open MIT and creative commons license, allowing them to be accessed without any fees or restrictions.”

Hsu adds, “For a while now, we’ve wanted to have some kind of self-paced online system to help students who need extra support in college algebra and precalculus catch up on background material. This project will give us a free, customized and further customizable tutoring system for those students, letting us help them with review material for which we currently don’t have the resources (people or time).”

As for his part in the project? “I’m looking forward to filling this educational gap,” he concludes. “I’m most excited about the fact that we didn’t have to pay for this system, and that we have full control of it after the project is completed, in case we want to fix or change things later.”

 Learn more about innovation and research at SJSU.